188 MR. R. 1. POCOCK ON *HE EXTERNAL 



the false hoofs — the latter being exceptionally long, particularly 

 on the fore feet. The area between the false hoofs is naked, 

 except for a narrow strip of hair running on each side from the 

 back of the leg to the heel. The deep depression between the 

 heels is entirely naked. The hind feet difFer from the fore feet 

 in being smaller and in having relatively shorter false hoofs. 

 The feet of the female in the winter were more hairy below than 

 those of the male in summer described above. The wide 

 separation of the digits and the length of the heels and of 

 the false hoofs suggest adaptation to swamp-life. (Text-fig. 6, 

 A, B.) 



The metatarsal gland may, it appears, be present or absent. 

 It is present on the skin in the British Museum ; but I could 

 find no trace of it in the female, and have no note on the subject 

 in the male. 



The penis is truncated apically and provided with five pairs of 

 lobes which normally fold over the urogenital orifice, but are 

 capable of spreading out like the petals of a flower. Except, 

 however, that the lobes are somewhat better defined, the penis 

 does not differ essentially from that of Cervus xanthopygii,s 

 and of other typical deer of the Old World. (Text- fig. 17, 

 E, F, G.) 



Ifr may be recalled that, according to Gari"od (P. Z. S. 1877, 

 p. 9), the penis of the American deer now referred to the genera 

 Odocoileus, Mazama, Pudu, and others differs from that of such 

 Old World deer as Cervus, Axis, Dama, etc., in being attenuated 

 at the apex, the urethral canal being produced into a median 

 slender process, unlike the upcurled termination of the urethra, 

 which does not project beyond the truncated tip of the glans in 

 the Old World forms. Hence the discovery of the structure of 

 the penis in ElwpJiurus is the final piece of evidence required to 

 estalDlish the affinity of that genus with the typical Old World 

 deer and to sever it from the American genera with which 

 Lyddeker affiliated it. 



Notes on the Seasonal Colour-change and Antler-groivth of 

 Elaphurus. 



Even as recently as 1915, the colour of Elaphurus was described 

 as " reddish tawny with a tinge of grey " by Lyddeker, who 

 judged apparently from the mounted specimen in the British 

 Museum, which was presented to that institution by the Duke of 

 Bedford in July 1899. As a matter of fact, the reddish tint is a 

 transient phase lasting some three or four months of the summer 

 season, roughly from May or June to August or September. 

 For the remaining eight or nine months of the year the animal 

 is the colour of a grey donkey ; and this grey coat is thick and 

 luxuriant in the winter, whereas the reddish coat is comparatively 

 short and sparse. 



