Nov. II, 1880] 



NATURE 



2,7 



01- deer-family, remarkable for its absence of antlers in 

 both sexes, the extraordinary prominence of the canine 

 teeth (well shown in the illustration), the musk-producing 

 organ, and other peculiarities. 



It is to the great exertions of Sir Richard Pollock, 

 K.C.S.I., lately Commissioner at Peshawar, that the 

 Zoological Society are indebted for their living examples 

 of the musk-deer, the only specimens, it is believed, that 

 have ever been brought to Europe in captivity. A female 

 of this animal was first received from Sir Richard Pollock 

 in 1869. Although it did not live long in the Gardens, it 

 gave Prof. Flower an opportunity of preparing a most 

 valuable paper on its anatomy.^ The same generous 

 donor presented in 1877 a pair of this scarce animal, 

 obtained from the Cashmere Hills, of which the male, 

 now in excellent condition and fully adult, still survives, 

 and is the subject of the accompanying illustration. 



The musk-deer is found throughout the mountainous 

 districts of Central and Eastern Asia, 

 ranging, as the recent Russian explorers 

 have shown, into Amoorland. South- 

 wards it e.xtends into the Himalayas, 

 but is here, as Jerdon tells us, only met 

 with at great elevations, rarely descend- 

 ing in summer below a height of 8000 

 feet, and extending as high as the upper 

 limits of the forests. 



Hodgson says that the musk-deer is 

 " solitary, living in retired spots near 

 rocks or in the depths of the forests : 

 they leap well, but cannot climb nor 

 descend slopes well. They rut in winter, 

 and produce one or two young, usually 

 in the cleft of a rock. In six weeks the 

 young can shift for themselves, and are 

 driven off by the mother." 



The musk-deer, as stated by Jerdon, 

 is wonderfully sure-footed, and over 

 rocky and precipitous ground perhaps 

 has no equal. It appears to eat chiefly 

 grasses and lichens. If twins are pro- 

 duced the two are kept apart, it being 

 very solitary in its habits, even in in- 

 fancy. The musk is milky for the first 

 year or two, afterwards granular. The 

 dung of the males smells of musk, but :j^- 



the body does not, and females do not L=^__ 

 smell of it in the slightest degree. The ";>-:,/ 

 flesh is dark red, and the young is ^X 

 considered to afford the best venison in 

 India. 



The musk-deer is much sought after 

 by the hunter for its musk, many being 

 shot and snared annually. A good 

 musk-pod is valued at from ten to fifteen rupees. The 

 musk as sold is often much adulterated with blood, liver, 

 &c. Cine ounce is about the average produce of the pod. 



2. The species of the genus Cam's known as wolves — that 

 is Cnnis lupus and its representative forms — are widely 

 spread over the northern hemisphere, extending in the 

 Old World as far south as Abyssinia {Cains si»ii:iisis) and 

 India (Ca/ii's pallipcs). In North America the larger 

 Canis occidi-iitalis take their place in the .Arctic regions and 

 Rocky Mountains, but as it goes south, gradually gives 

 place to the very distinct prairie-wolf {Canis latrans), 

 which seems to range as far down as the Central 

 American Isthmus. 



The existence of a true wolf in Japan has been known 

 to us since 1S47 from its description and figure in Tem- 

 minck and Sicbold's " Fauna Japonica," under the name 

 Canis iwdophylax. But this animal has been very little 



* " On the Structure and Affinities of the ^Iw^-Ti^^r {Moschus vwschi- 

 fcr,is, Linn.)," by WilUam Henry Flower, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S.— P.Z.S., 1875, 



known in Europe except from the specimens in the 

 Leyden Museum, and as it is altogether omitted in Dr. 

 Gray's Catalogue of the Carnivores, appears to be not 

 even represented in the well-stored galleries of the British 

 Museum. It is to an active correspondent in Japan — 

 Mr. H. Heywood Jones — that the Zoological Society are 

 indebted for their unique specimens of this scarce car- 

 nivore, which is now very difficult to be procured, having 

 been driven into the recesses of the wooded mountains. 



In general form and proportions the Japanese wolf 

 much resembles its well-known congener of Europe, but 

 is of inferior size and more slender make. According to 

 Siebold its native name is " Jamainu." 



3. The Tufted Umbrette {Scopus itinbrelta) or " Ham- 

 merkop" of the Cape Colonists, is a well-know'n bird both 

 to natives and travellers all over Central and Southern 

 Afi'ica, but in Europe has only hitherto been recognised 

 as a somewhat scarce object to be found in the principal 



Fig. 3.— The Tufted Umbielle (Scopus umhrcUa). 



museums. The example now in the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens, which was acquired a few weeks ago by purchase 

 from a dealer in Liverpool, is, it is believed, the only 

 living specimen yet brought to Europe. The umbrette 

 has been usually placed by systematists among the storks, 

 and by Prof. Reinhardt was supposed to be the nearest 

 ally of the Balccniccps rex (without doubt a Ciconiine 

 form). But those who have studied its nimble gait and 

 active h.abits, as shown in life, will not readily agree to 

 this opinion. Nothing can well be more different from 

 the staid, stolid demeanour of the stork than the lively 

 action of the umbrette, which rather reminds one of a 

 curlew or sand-piper. It is probable, however, that its 

 real place will be found to be amongst the spoonbills 

 and ibises (Plataleida;), a group usually associated with 

 the storks, although it must be recollected that the late 

 Prof. Garrod maintained that (as " Schizorhina; ") the 

 Plataleidic would be better placed with the Limicolse. 

 When the present specimen dies the question of its posi- 

 tion will be quickly decided by the Society's prosector, 



