1897.] DEEB ALLIED TO CERA^US SICA. 45 



longer than in mcmchuricus, and in the winter dress is reddish with 

 but little white. 



In his oft-quoted memoir on the Oervidce, Sir V. Brooke gives 

 mandarinus as a synonym o£ mancJiuriciis, without a single word 

 as to the persistence of the spotting in winter. And the influence 

 of one so well-known as an authority on the group has led to 

 mamlarhius being ignored as a species by all subsequent writers, 

 although there seems little doubt that it is really a distinct form. 



In his letter in the P. Z. S. for ] 864 already quoted, Mr. Swinhoe 

 wrote as follows : — " lu the gardens of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, 

 & Co., in Hong Kong, I saw several bucks and does of Q. sica 

 and G. taevanus, as also of 0. axis in winter dress. The bucks of 

 the two former had manes about the neck ; 0. sica was spotless, 

 C. taevanus with indistinct spots, while C. axis was of a rich 

 yellowish-brown colour, with distinct white spots. The latter had 

 long, thin, reddish tails, and, I think, are identical with the true 

 C. axis. They are from Hankow, interior China," Now as 

 Mr. Swinhoe must be presumed to have been well acquainted with 

 both mancliuricus and hortidorum, and as C. axis is unknown 

 beyond India, it appears highly probable that these Hankow Deer 

 were really mandarinus. The " long, thin, reddish, tails " appear 

 to accord well with Milne-Edwards's figure of the latter in winter 

 dress. 



4. Formosan Deer. — Cejivus taetanus. 



Oervus taiouanus, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxix. 

 p. 90 (I860) ; P. L. Sciater, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 376. 



C'ervus taevanus, P. L. Sciater, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 152, pi. xvi. ; 

 Swinhoe, ibid. p. 362 ; P. L. Sciater, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vii. 

 p. 345, pis. xxxiii., xxxiv. (1871) ; Brooke, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 909 ; 

 W. L. Sciater, Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus. pt. ii. p. 183 (1891). 



Pseudaxis taivanus. Gray, Cat. Rum. Brit. Mus. p. 70 (1872), 

 & Hand-list Eum. Brit. Mus. p. 141 (1873). 



Hab. Formosa. 



Sir V. Brooke observes a discreet silence as to the right of this 

 form to rank as a species, giving none of its distinctive features. 

 According to Mr. Sclater's description and figures, the Formosan 

 Deer appears to be of medium height (2 ft. 11 in.); the general 

 colour of the summer dress being paler than in sica, and the black 

 of the caudal disc forming a more distinct transverse bar. It is 

 also described as having somewhat longer fur, and a white tail with 

 a broader black median line on the upper surface ; and the spots 

 are stated to show a tendency to persist in winter. A female in 

 the British Museum has, however, a chocolate-brown ground- 

 colour in the summer dress. As regards form, the latter specimen 

 appears to be a relatively lower-built animal than either sica or 

 mandarinus. On this point. Dr. Grray observes that although 

 the Pormosan Deer, when contrasted with the Sicines from other 



