SMALL DEER. 533 
Above, the outline is again broken by the whitish under-parts, 
always difficult to observe against light ; and higher up, the darker 
body is lost amongst the foliage. 
Not always will such protection avail the prey against the terrible 
hunting power of the Carnivora, itself sharpened on the wheel of 
natural selection. But if it avails five times in a hundred of such 
occurrences, which is little to suppose, the race of ruminants con- 
cerned is most likely to be continued by those members with motley 
“ stockings,” other things being equal. 
The lateral position of spots on the toes, and more nearly annular or 
vertical disposition of those on or above the fetlock joint, we can 
conceive to be not altogether unrelated to the present and past oste- 
ology of those parts. It is a difficult question for an amateur natu- 
ralist; but we do constantly see that certain colours and forms of colour 
do hold their place over certain parts of the skeleton, even in such 
variable domestic species as horses and dogs. No man ever saw a 
horse with a blaze or star on the shoulder, nor an ass with a cross on 
its belly and thighs. 
Our third beast is the so-called ‘‘ mouse-deer’’— Tragulus memimna. 
There is much confusion about its names. I adopt Mr. Blanford’s 
assignment to the genus Tragulus, but suspect a printer’s error in 
either his last book or Jerdon’s Mammals of India (the-reprint, p. 269), 
where the spelling is consistently as I have given it. Mr. Blanford not 
only spells “ Meminna” (with double x) himself, but quotes Jerdon 
as doing so, giving the page above quoted, and each of them quotes 
the same or other authorities as using his own spelling. These are not 
here for me to examine. 
As regards the trivial name, Jerdon and Blanford both call it 
“‘mouse-deer,” the latter also giving the name “chevrotain,” a 
good deal used by European writers. In some of our gazetteers it 
has been called a “ hog-deer,” and identified with “ Cervus poreinus.” 
I took some trouble to trace this error to its source; and the Presi- 
dent’s special reference to the matter, when the substance of this paper 
was spoken, induces me, preparing it fot the press, to go fully into it, 
“ Hog-deer”’ is the Bengal name for Cervus porcinus, which is not a 
“ small deer ” at all, the bucks often exceeding a hundredweight fresh 
killed and untouched by the knife, except to cut their. throats. 
This deer is not found in the Peninsular provinces of Bombay at all. 
Tt is abundant in parts of Sind, But the Anglo-Sindian sportsmen 
seldom call it ‘‘ hog-deer,” preferring the more elegant native 
ra 
