254 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
general uniformity of their character, they are subject 
to no little variation in the comparative size, length, 
and direction of their ramifications; and numerous 
species have been founded by authors, and in particular 
by M. Cuvier and M. Blainville, on the most trifling 
modifications in these particulars. We shall probably 
have occasion hereafter, in describing another species 
of the tribe, which has already twice shed its horns 
during its confinement in the Society’s Menagerie, to 
illustrate by a decisive example the necessity of observ- 
ing these animals for several successive years, in order 
to distinguish with precision the characters which are 
permanent from those which are of a temporary and 
transitory kind. 
The Axis Deer is the earliest and best known species 
of the Indian group. In size, form, and the general 
distribution of its colours, it is extremely similar to the 
Fallow-Deer of Europe, with which it has frequently 
been compared. So close indeed is the resemblance, 
that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the 
females of the two races in their summer coat without 
a minute comparison. In the males the horns alone 
afford at the first glance a clear and unequivocal mark of 
distinction. These organs rise almost vertically from the 
head, take a slight curvature outwards, and turn a little 
forwards and inwards at their points. The lowermost 
antler or snag rises close to the base on the anterior 
surface, and is directed forwards and upwards; the 
upper takes its origin above the middle and from the 
inner side. The stems and their branches are perfectly 
cylindrical throughout, with a somewhat rugged and 
tubercular surface; and they never form the flattened 
and palmated expansions which distinguish those of 
the Fallow-Deer. 
To the observations of M. G. Cuvier in the Paris 
Menagerie we owe an extended comparison between 
