DEER. 369 



accompanying- illustration, the antlers are extremely minute and unbranched, while 

 their supports take the form of long pedicles, which, instead of diverging as in the 

 muntjacs, are convergent. Then, again, the rib-like ridges occurring on the face of 

 the muntjacs are absent, as are likewise some small glands found on the forehead of 

 the latter. Like the muntjacs, the bucks of these two deer are furnished with long- 

 tusks in the upper jaw, although their extremities are not turned outwards. In 

 both species the hair is so coarse as to have been compared to small quills ; and on 

 the forehead the hair is lengthened so as to form a kind of horseshoe-like crest on 

 the tuft. 



In Michie's deer the general colour of the fur is greyish black, each individual 

 hair being white for a considerable distance above its base, and the face and neck 

 uniformly dark grey ; while the crest on the forehead and portions of the ears are 

 dark brown. In the Tibetan tufted deer the fur on the head, neck, and fore-quarters 

 is dark brown, each hair being brown above and whitish beneath, while a pure 

 white ring divides the two colours ; consequently there is a speckled appearance in 

 the fur of the anterior part of the animal. In the hinder part of the body the 

 white rings on the hairs are absent, and the colour of the fur is consequently 

 uniform dark brown, becoming of a still deeper shade on the feet and the crest on 

 the forehead. The ears have a transverse black bar, with white tips and edges ; 

 the under-parts of the body and the lower surface of the tail being likewise white. 



Michie's deer is abundant in the reeds bordering the rivers in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ningpo and other parts of Eastern China. 



The Reindeer. 

 Genus Rangifer. 



The reindeer {Rangifer tarandus) differs from all other members of the deer- 

 tribe in that the antlers are not borne only by the male, although those of the 

 female are of smaller dimensions ; and together with all the deer remaining for 

 notice, it differs from those already described in the structure of the fore-foot. In 

 these, which, with the single exception of the wapiti, are Old World types, the lateral 

 metacarpal bones of the fore-foot, which originally supported the lateral toes, are 

 represented only by two small splints lying on either side of the upper end of the 

 cannon-bone, as shown in the foot of the sheep on p. 370. On the other hand, in 

 the reindeer and the under-mentioned genera, these same lateral metacarpal bones 

 are represented only by their lower extremities, and thus still support the toe-bones 

 of the lateral hoofs, as shown in the figure on the next page. This difference may 

 not, perhaps, appear to be of much significance, but as there are other indications of 

 affinity between the members of the two groups into which the deer family is 

 thereby divided, it is probably of considerable importance in classification. The 

 majority of the deer belonging to the present group are either common to the 

 northern regions of both hemispheres, or are restricted to the New World, the roe 

 and the Chinese water-deer being the only exclusively Old World forms. 



Reverting to the consideration of the reindeer, we have first to observe that in 

 addition to the presence of antlers in both sexes, the genus is distinguished from 



VOL. II. 24 



