CHE VROTAINS. 40 1 



smallest of all living Ungulates; it has a very wide geographical distribution, 

 being found in Cambodia, Cochin-China, South Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, 

 Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. The last species is the Philippine chevrotain (T. nigri- 

 cans), confined to the islands from which it takes its name. Remains of a fossil 

 chevrotain have been discovered in the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik Hills at the 

 foot of the Himalaya. 



All the chevrotains appear to be very similar in their habits. 

 Habits. 



They have a peculiar way of walking in a mincing manner on the 



extreme tips of their hoofs, which communicates a stiff and rigid appearance to the 

 legs, and has thus given rise to the popular notion that these animals have no 

 joints. Chevrotains lie concealed in grass or jungle, and only venture out to feed 

 in the evenings and mornings. They are timid and shy, but in confinement soon 

 become tame and gentle, and have been known to breed. Writing of the Indian 

 species, Colonel Tickell observes that it "is found throughout the jungly districts 

 of Central India (i.e., Chutia Nagpur), but from its retired habits is not often seen. 

 It never ventures into open country, but keeps among rocks, in the crevices of 

 which it passes the heat of the day, and into which it retires on the approach of 

 an enemy. In these the female brings forth her young (two in number), generally 

 at the close of the rains or the commencement of the cold season. The male keeps 

 with the female during the rutting season (about June or July), but at other times 

 they live solitary." The smaller Malayan chevrotain, which is very common in the 

 Peninsula, inhabits dense thickets, and produces either one or two fawns at a birth. 



THE WATER-CHEVROTAIN. 

 Genus Dorcatherium. 



The water-chevrotain (Dorcatherium aquaticum) of the West Coast of Africa, 

 is the only surviving representative of a genus which appears to have been widely 

 spread in the Old World during the Pliocene and Miocene epochs of the Tertiary 

 period. Indeed, the genus was originally founded upon the evidence of one of these 

 extinct species, the living form having been subsequently described under the name 

 of Hyomoschus, and it is only recently that zoologists have generally recognised 

 the generic identity of the recent and fossil species. 



The water-chevrotain is mainly distinguished from the true chevrotains of 

 Asia by the feet being shorter and stouter, with relatively larger lateral toes, and, 

 above all, by the circumstance that the two middle metacarpal bones remain com- 

 pletely separate, as shown in the figure on p. 399. The living species is slightly 

 superior in size to the largest of the Asiatic chevrotains, and resembles the Indian 

 representative of the latter in having the body spotted and striped with white. 

 The general colour of the fur is a rich brown, with a large amount of white on the 

 throat and chest, as well as on the under surface of the tail ; the upper part of the 

 body is spotted, while the flanks are marked with longitudinal white stripes, which 

 are larger and more continuous than those of the Indian chevrotain. 



As is the case with so many West African animals, we have but scanty in- 

 formation as to the habits of the water-chevrotain in its native state. It is, however, 



VOL. ii. 26 



