CHARACTERS OF ELAPHURUS AND OTHER CERVID.K. 199 



ill its fourteenth year. This was the unidentified specimen of 

 Odocoileus, of which 1 described the antler-growth in 1912 (Proc. 

 Zoal.So3, pp. 781-783) to indicate the homology between the 

 so-called " subbasal snag " of the genus Odocoileus and the " brow- 

 tine " of Cervus. 



The description given above of the external characters of 

 0. V. spinosus applies very closely to this form. The only 

 variations noted were the presence in 0. v. peritviamos of a pair of 

 long interramal vibrissas, of longish hairs on the sides of the 

 oiandular pouch of the hind foot, and the reduction in the size of 

 the metatarsal gland. This gland was merely represented super- 

 ficially by an inconspicuous patch of hairs slightly longer and 

 slightly different in tint from those of the surrounding area of 

 the lower half of the metatarsal area. The skin beneath this 

 felt slightly thicker to the touch, but the only indication of 

 secretion was a small scab on the gland of the right side. This 

 gland was not visible to me in the living animal, and I thought it 

 was absent. It might very easily be overlooked in prepared 

 skins ; and this would account for 0. v. peruvianus having been 

 described as without metatarsal glands. Not improbably they 

 may be sometimes altogether aborted in this subspecies. 



The tarsal gland, on the contrary, is represented by a large 

 thick mat of longish hairs, which, upon being separated, showed 

 as a mixture of grey and black with yellow secretion at the 

 base. 



The ear is tolerably large and nearly naked, as in the_ related 

 race 0. v. gi/nmotis. It has two vertical cartilaginous ridges, of 

 which the posterior is much the stronger. Inferiorly it forms 

 the posterior border of a deepish pit, the anterior border of which 

 is a rounded ridge descending from the rounded posterior lobe of 

 the basal ridge. The anterior lobe of this is a little smaller than 

 the posterior ; there is a low short longitudinal crest on its outer 

 side, and the anterior vertical ridge terminates on its inner side. 

 A thickened rounded crest, defined in front and behind by a 

 hollow, descends to the bottom of the cavity of the ear and the 

 orifice opens in the anterior hollow. (Text-fig. 15, B.) 



The 2je)iis, as pointed out by Oaton for the North-American 

 forms of Odocoileus, was pendulous from a point just in front of 

 the scrotum. The tip of the prepuce was almost naked, but just 

 within its orifice were some hairs arising from definite papilla?. 

 The glans, as in other American deer examined, agrees exactly 

 with Garrod's description, ending in a narrowed point with ter- 

 minal orifice. (Text-fig. 17, A, B.) 



Within the limits of the genus Odocoileus the preorbital 

 gland and the pedal glands appear to be always present, the 

 latter occurring on both hind and front feet. According to 

 Caton, they are, however, relatively smaller in 0. hemionus than 

 in 0. virginianus, 0. columUanus coming between the two in this 

 particular. 



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