THE AXIS. 231 



Pliny, both becaufe the characters cofrefpend 

 with Pliny's axis, and the name has never been 

 applied to any other quadruped; and, therefore, 

 we are in no danger of falling into error or con- 

 fufion; for a generic denomination, accompanied 

 with an epithet derived from the climate, is not 

 a name, but a phrafe by which an animal may 

 be confounded with others of its own genus, as 

 the prefent animal with the (tag, though, per- 

 haps, it is different both in fpecies and in cli- 

 mate. The axis is one of the fmall number of 

 ruminating animals which carry horns, like thofe 

 of the flag. He has the if ature and fwiftnefs of 

 the fallow-deer. But, what diitinguiihcs him 

 from both, he has the horns of the ltag, and the 

 figure of the fallow deer; his whole body is 

 marked with white fpots, elegantly difpofed, and 

 feparate from each other; and, hilly, he is a 

 native of warm climates *. But the hair of the 



ftao- 



o 



is clearer than that of the flag; for, having heard them bray, 

 we were certain that they could neither be fallow deer nor 

 flags, and, therefore, believed them to be the axis of the an- 

 cients ; Be'on, obferv. p. 119. 



* This animal was in the royal menagery, under the name 

 oi the Ganges /tag. From this denomination, as well as from 

 the puil.igcs of Pliny and 13don, it appears that he is a native 

 of warm countries. The tellimonies of travelki ;, which 

 arc about to quote, confirm this fact, and at the fame time 

 p:ove, that the common fpecies of the flag is not much 

 diffufed beyond the temperate climates. ' I never law,' fays 

 le Maire, ' flags at Senegal with horns like thofe of France ;' 

 Voyage de le Maire, p. 190. — « In the peninfula of India, on this 

 « fide the Ganges, there are flags whofe bodies are ail irifer- 



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