4i6 



NATURE 



[_Marck 3, 1881 



many valuable specimens to the Museum of the Jardin 

 des Plantes at Paris. Amongst these was an example of 

 the present animal — a female, not quite adult — which was 

 descrilped and figured by .M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 

 his " Etudes pour servir a I'Histoire Naturelle des Mam- 

 mifferes" (Paris, 186S-1874). Ihe celebrated naturalist, 

 Pere David, also seems to have met vyith this monkey in 

 the same district, as he includes it in several lists of the 

 Mammals of Northern China which he has recently 

 pubhshed. 



For their pair of this scarce monkey now living in the 

 Regent's Park, the Zoological Society are indebted to the 

 kind exertions of one of their Corresponding Members, 

 Dr. S. W. Bushell of H.B.M. Legation at Pekin. Dr. 

 Bushell obtained these animals in 1880 from the Yung-ling, 

 or Eastern Mausoleum, of the reigning Manchu dynasty, 

 situated about 70 le from Pekin to the north of 40° N. L. 



The Tcheli monkey belongs to the same section of the 

 group as the well-known Rhesus monkey {Macacns 



rhesus), but has a shorter tail, and is generally of a more 

 rufous colour. It is also readily distinguishable by its 

 dense coat of short thick fur, adapting it to endure the 

 bitter winter climate of its native hills, where the thermo- 



j meter often descends 10^ below zero. Like most of its 

 congeners it is rock-loving in its habits. 



5. The Water-deer {Hydropotcs mermis) is another 



; Chinese animal which has only lately become known in 

 Europe. 



Until of late years it was supposed that the annual 



! production of deciduous bony processes (antlers) from 

 the frontal bones was an invariable characteristic of the 

 males of the deer-tribe (Cervid^). In some cases these 

 antlers might attain enormous dimensions, as in the 

 Wapiti {Cervus Canadensis) and theElk(^Avj' machlis); 

 in others they might consist only of diminutive points, as 

 in the Pudu-deer of Chili {Piidiia humilis). But they 

 were always present to a greater or less extent. The dis- 

 covery of this little animal served to confirm, however, 



Fig. 4.-1 he Icheli Monkey. 



the truth of the axiom, that in Nature at least there is no 

 law without an exception. Here we have a deer complete 

 in everything except its antlers, usually the most charac- 

 teristic feature in the males of these animals. In place 

 of antlers the buck Water-deer is provided with other 

 organs of defence in the shape of two long exserted 

 canine teeth, which grow to a considerable size in the 

 adult, and give him ample means of e.xercising his 

 pugnacious powers. 



For our first knowledge of the existence of this singular 

 deer we are indebted t(^ the exertions of the late Robert 

 Swinhoe, who, during his residence in various parts of 

 the Chinese Empire, added so largely to our knowledge 

 of every part of its fauna. Mr. Swinhoe obtained his 

 first specimens of the Hydropotes in the market of 

 Shanghai in the winter of 1879, and described it at one 

 of the meetings of the Zoological Society in the following 

 year. 



" In the large riverine islands of the Yangtsze above 

 Chinkiang," Mr. Swinhoe tells us, "these animals occur 

 in large numbers, living among the tall rushes that are 

 there grown for thatching and other purposes. The 

 rushes are cut down in the spring ; and the deer then 

 swim away to the main shore and retire to the cover of 

 the hills. 



" In autumn, after the floods, when the rushes are 

 again grown, they return with their young and stay the 

 winter through. They are said to feed on the rush- 

 sprouts and coarse grasses, and they doubtless often 

 finish off with a dessert from the sweet- potatoes, cabbages, 

 &c , which the villagers cultivate on the islands during 

 winter. 



" They cannot however do much damage to the latter, 

 or they would not be suffered to exist in such numbers as 

 tley do; for the islands have their villages and a pretty 

 numerous agricultural population. Fortunately for the 



