fe — Animal Life 
our second and third fingers), while the other lent its weight chiefly on the third toe 
alone (equivalent to our second finger). The group which walks equally on its third and 
fourth toes has been classified as Hven-toed Ungulates or Artiodactyla, and the other, 
where the stress was laid on the central or third toe, is entitled the Perissodactyla 
or Odd-toed Ungulates. The Artiodactyla at the present day are represented by the 
Hippopotamus, the Pigs, Camels, Chevrotains, and the Pecora (deer, giraffe, oxen, sheep, 
antelopes, etc.) ; while the Perissodactyla, a vanishing order, can only show such forms as 
the Horse, the Rhinoceros, and the Tapir. The original five-toed condition very soon 
disappeared. The Artiodactyla, that is to say, soon lost their first finger (our thumb), 
or first toe, and the Perissodactyla reduced their toes as a rule to only three, and in 
the case of the horse to only one.* 
The Artiodactyla, after developing in the earlier stages such forms as the hippopotamus, 
the family of swine, the camel (besides innumerable other families now extinct), developed 
along the muddle line of descent a group not very distantly related to the pigs, which 
is known as the Vragulide, or Chevrotains, and from this group in all probability is 
descended at the present day the vast concourse of deer, giraffe, oxen, sheep, goats and 
antelopes. The Chevrotains, like so many other interesting parent groups, are only 
represented 
at the present 
day by a few 
inconspicu- 
ous forms. 
These are 
the Pigmy 
Musks or 
Chevrotains — 
of Hastern 
Asia (nothing 
whatever to 
do with the 
Musk Deer), 
and the Dor- 
cathervum of 
West Africa. 
These little 
creatures are hornless. They possess four complete toes on each foot. The males 
have upper canine teeth which are developed into long tusks. Their fur, especially 
when young, is marked with white spots and stripes, and the stomach is intermediate 
in character between the most advanced ruminating type and the simpler digestive 
apparatus of the pig. In common, however, with all the other Pecorines, the Tragulide 
have absolutely no incisor teeth in the upper jaw, while in the lower jaw the canine 
tooth assumes the form of an incisor, and is closely pressed against the real incisor 
teeth. The reader’s attention should be drawn particularly to the white spots and 
stripes of these Chevrotains, which appear to be a very ancient characteristic of the 
maimmalia, more ancient perhaps than the black spotting and striping which is so 
marked a feature of the carnivores, but which, like the white markings, may go back 
concurrently to a reptilian origin. The white spotting and striping is exhibited also by 
primitive Perissodactyls like the existing Tapir (Gn its young stage); perhaps also in 
the horse, where, however, by a curious extension or exaggeration the white or 
Photograph by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regents Park. 
SKULL OF CEPHALOPHUS SYLVICULTRIX. 
* The horse, of course, still retains two splints or vestiges of the second and fourth toes on either side of the 
great central digit. 
