FAMILY CERVIDAS. 
113 
FAMILY VI. CERVIDJE. 
Horns solid, deciduous, (in most of the genera, in the male only.) No incisors above, eight 
beneath. Occasionally canines above. A sub-orbital sinus, or glandular cavity at the inner 
angle of the eye; pupils elongated. Tail short. Legs slender. Feet bisulcated. 
Obs. This family, which is founded on the old linnean genus Cervus or Deer, now comprises 
forty-five real or nominal species, distributed, according to the ideas of systematic writers, 
into eight or ten genera. But six species are found within the United States, and of these, 
three only exist in the State of New-York. 
GENUS CERVUS. 
Horns always present in the males, branched, sub-palmated, or simple; the horn arising 
rounded from a burr or rose-shaped base. Ears large. Mammce four, inguinal. No canine 
teeth. A muzzle. Tail short, bushy. 
THE AMERICAN DEER. 
Cervus virginianos. 
PLATE XXVIII. FIG. I. 
Dama virginiana: Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 86. F. Cuvier, Mamm. lithog. plate. 
Cervus virginianus. Harlan, Fauna Amer. p. 239. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Yol. 2, p. 306, plate. 
Mazama id. Hamilton Smith, Griffith's Cuv. Yol. 4, p. 127, and Vol. 5, p. 315- 
C. ( Mazama) mexicanus et clavatus. Hamilton Smith, lb. p. 315. 
Fallow Deer. Emmons, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 81. 
Characteristics. Reddish or bluish grey, according to the season. Young, spotted with white. 
Homs moderate, curving forward, with the concave part in front, with from 
one to six points, occasionally palmated. 
Description. Head long and slender. Muzzle pointed. Eyes large and lustrous, the lachry¬ 
mal pits consisting of a slight fold of the skin. Tail moderate, depressed. Legs slender. A 
glandular pouch concealed by a thick tuft of rigid hairs inside of the hind legs, odoriferous, 
and connected with the sexual appetite. The horns of the adult male vary so much in shape, 
that scarcely any two are alike ; appearing to depend upon age, season, and abundance or 
scarcity of food. In the first season they are simple, cylindrical and pointed, and in this state 
they are known as spike bucks ; in the following season, they have a short, straight antler; 
and the number increases until the fourth season, when the following is the most usual con¬ 
dition of the horns : The main stem rises upward and laterally, and then makes a broad curve 
forward, with the tips turned inward and downward ; on the inner and slightly anterior surface 
of the main stem, arises a short brow antler, directed forward and upward ; the stem, thus 
Fauna. 15 
