226 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE TRAGULUS KANCHIL. [Mar. 11, 
8. On the Bony Dorsal Shield of the Male Tragulus kanchil. 
By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. 
Mr. Edward Gerrard the younger has prepared for the British 
Museum a beautiful skeleton of the male Tragulus kanchil which 
lately died in the Society’s Gardens. 
The skeleton is very like that of other ruminants ; but it has the 
remarkable peculiarity of the lumbar vertebrae and pelvis being co- 
vered with an expanded thin bony plate, or, rather, a series of small 
irregular-shaped plates united together by a dentated suture into a 
dorsal and lumbar disk, apparently formed by the ossification of the 
lumbar fascia. This lies immediately on the upper surface of the 
dorsal muscles, and between them and the skin. The plate is attached 
by the whole length of the central line, and extends on each side 
considerably beyond the sides of the lumbar vertebrz and the pelvis. 
Bony dorsal shield of Tragulus kanchil. 
Mr. Gerrard informs me that it did not occur in a female T. kan- 
chil that he had examined ; so that it may be peculiar to the maie sex. 
M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards has figured a somewhat similar ex- 
pansion covering the pelvis in the skeleton of Tragulus napu (see 
