chap. xvii. j MAMMALIA. 219 



regions or the Tropics. They range in fact over the whole of the 

 great continents of the globe, with the one striking exception of 

 Africa, where they are only found on the shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean which form part of the Palsearctic region. The following 

 is the distribution of the genera. 



Alces (1 species), the elk or moose, ranges all over Northern 

 Europe and Asia, as far south as East Prussia, the Caucasus, and 

 North China ; and over Arctic America to Maine on the East, and 

 British Columbia on the west. The- American species may 

 however be distinct, although very closely allied to that of 

 Europe. Tarandus (1 species), the reindeer, has a similar range 

 to the last, but keeps farther north in Europe, inhabiting Green- 

 land and Spitzbergen ; and in America extends farther south, to 

 New Brunswick and the north shore of Lake Superior. There 

 are several varieties or species of this animal confined to special 

 districts, but they are not yet well determined. Oervus (40 

 species), the true deer, have been sub-divided into numerous sub- 

 genera characteristic of separate districts. They range over the 

 whole area of the family, except that they do not go beyond 

 57° N. in America and a little further in Europe and Asia. In 

 South America they extend over Patagonia and even to Tierra 

 del Fuego. They are found in the north of Africa, and over the 

 whole of the Oriental region, and beyond it as far as the Mo- 

 luccas and Timor, where however they have probably been intro- 

 duced by man at an early period. Dama (1 species), the fallow 

 deer, is a native of the shores of the Mediterranean, from Spain 

 and Barbary to Syria. Capreolus (2 sj)ecies), the roe-deer, inhabits 

 all Temperate and South Europe to Syria, with a distinct species 

 in N. China. Ccrvulus (4 species), the muntjacs, are found in 

 all the forest districts of the Oriental region, from India and 

 Ceylon to China as far north as Ningpo and Formosa, also south- 

 ward to the Philippines, Borneo, and Java. Moschus (1 species) 

 the musk-deer, inhabits Central Asia from the Amoor and 

 Pekin, to the Himalayas and the Siamese mountains above 

 8000 ft. elevation. This is usually classed as a distinct family, 

 but M. Milne-Edwards remarks, that it differs in no important 

 points of organisation from the rest of the Cervidae. Hydrojpotes 



