CERVUS MUNTJAK. 



Javanese Kidang, although it is sufficiently diiFerent in colour to constitute a variety. 

 A detailed drawing of the head of the Rib-faced Deer from India, presented to the 

 Honourable Company's Museum by Dr. Francis Hamilton, exhibits this peculiar cha- 

 racter of the face ; but the black lines which mark the forehead and the pedestals of the 

 horns have a paler tint, AUamand illustrates his description with a good figure of 

 the Indian Roe, which has been copied into several books on Natural History. 



Boddaert has described the Rib-faced Deer of Pennant as a species distinct from 

 the ChevreuU des Indes of AUamand: the former— Cerviis Muntjak, Bodd. — is charac- 

 terized, cornibus trifariis undnatis corpore crassiore facie sulcata ; the latter, which he 

 names Cervus vaginalis, cornibus uniramosis parvis vaginis duabus convexis pilosis, ad 

 OS nasi coeuntibus, implantatis, sinubus lacrymalibus maximis. It will appear from the 

 following details, that the horns, in the young Kidang, are undivided ; that in the 

 adult they are commonly bipartite and hooked (uncinate); that they are rarely trifid ; 

 that the ribs of the face appear more distinct in the prepared specimens than in the 

 animal during life ; and that the species is always supplied with very large lacrymal 

 sinuses. I have therefore considered Boddaert's descriptions as applying to the same 

 animal modified by age and circumstances. The specific character of Gmelin, founded 

 on the description of Pennant, does not convey an accurate idea of our animal. I 

 shall detail in the sequel my reasons for uniting in the table of Synonyms, the Cervus 

 moschatus and the Cervus subcornutus of Dr. De BlainviUe, with the Cervus 

 Muntjak. 



As several perfect specimens of the Kidang, which were forwarded from Sumatra 

 by Sir Stamford Raffles, are contained in the Museum at the India House, a faithful 

 drawing was prepared by Mr. Daniell, which I shall endeavour to illustrate by the fol- 

 lowing description, adding some details regarding its history and peculiarities in Java. 



The name of Muntjak, introduced by Zimmerman as the specific name, is 

 applied to our animal, in the Sunda language, which is used in the western portion of 

 the Island. In the Javanese language properly so called, which is employed in the 

 eastern districts and at the Courts, the name is Kidang, which with a slight modifi- 

 cation — KiJANG — is also employed in the Malayan language, and in most parts of 

 Sumatra. 



The distinguishing characters of the Cervus Muntjak consist in elongated 

 pedestals supporting the horns, in canine teeth lengthened so as to constitute tusks, 

 and in several large folds of the skin of the forehead, which in the prepared specimens 



