Dr. J. E. Gray on the Guimul. 445 



LXIII. — On the Ouemul {YLviScm^Xa, leucotis). 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 

 Me. Bates has kindly sent to the British Maseum the skins of 

 a male and of a female Guimul, forwarded to the Geographical 

 Society by Don Henrique M. Simpson, who observes: — " These 

 deer were encountered in a valley through the Cordilleras in 

 lat. 46° S. There is only one other specimen known in Chili, 

 in the Santiago Museum, which was found in lat. 35° S." 



The skins sent are in winter fur, consisting of " quills " like 

 those of the roebuck. They agree with the female animal 

 which the Earl of Derby sent to the Zoological Society in 1849, 

 and which was obtained by him from Valparaiso, from whence 

 it was brought by "Don Benjamin Munoz, a Commodore in the 

 Chilian navy ; the animal was shot by one of the Chileno 

 officers about 20 leagues from Port Famine, in the Straits of 

 Magellan." I described and figm'ed this animal under the 

 name of Capreolus leucotis (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1849, p. 64, t. xii.). 

 The male now sent has very peculiar horns, showing that it is 

 different from any South-American deer hitherto existing in 

 European museums ; it is also characterized by the length and 

 acuteness of its face. The horns are nearly erect, and some- 

 what like the horns of the fawn of Cervus elaphus^ with a 

 conical subbasal anterior branch. The beam is about the length 

 of the head, quite simple, and tapering to a point ; the front 

 of the right horn is keeled, and rather below the middle there 

 is a compressed tubercle, probably indicating a branch in the 

 adult state ; but there is no appearance of this on the other 

 horn. It forms a genus distinct from any other, which may 

 bear the name of Huamela leucotis ; it differs from all the 

 other Guazus in having a nearly basal frontal snag to the 

 horns. 



The Guemul or Huamel {Equus hisulcus of Molina, ' Hist. 

 Nat. de Chili,' p. 303) has been a great puzzle to zoologists, 

 and has been very imperfecrly described by Molina, who ob- 

 serves that it is " the unknown animal found by Captain Wallis 

 in the Straits of Magellan (Hawkesworth, Voy. torn. i. cap. 2, 



P- 28)-" 



The rediscovery of the Guemul in its original country is of 



considerable importance, as there has been great confusion about 



it. It is quite distinct from and at least one third larger than 



the Xenelaplms leucotis brought from Tinta in South Peru, by 



Mr. Whitely, Jun., of which we have fine specimens in the 



British Museum, and which I formerly thought might be the 



Guemul ; it must now be called Xenelaplms anomalocera. The 



specimens of the latter animal are covered Avith paler and thinner 



quills ; but this appears to be the summer coat, and in the 



