ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY OF THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS. 



31 



Grovernment iu the Alt.ii district, and we never saw tbe animal 

 in a wild state, and tbou^h we picked up horns, shed many 

 years previously, in the high treeless mountains south of the 

 Tchuja valley (one of which I exhibit to-ilight to show what a 

 large size they attain), I believe that they are now Very scarce 

 except in the heavily wooded country east of the Katuua. In 



Fig. 2. 



Cervics asiaficus, var. sibirica, Severtzoff. From the Altai. (Elwes.) 



the Tenesei and Abakan valleys this deer, or a nearly allied form 

 of it, is much more numerous ; and I saw some horns from tbe 

 Tenesei valley iu the St. Petersburg Museum which I thought 

 had much more resemblance to those of Cervus elaplius, having a 

 distinct cup or crown of 6 or 7 tines branching from the same 

 point on the beam, as in large old specimens of the Eed Deer, 



