RARE STAG FROM NEPAL. 



575 



(' Deer of all Lands,' pi. v.) have the yellow caudal disk too 

 large and extending too high vip the croup, and the ears, which 

 are really very long and pointed, with the upper edge sinuous, 

 represented as much too short and blunt. In the whiteness of 

 the chin and muzzle this species goes a stage beyond C. hanglu ; 

 but of course the stag differs from those discussed in this paper 

 by the reversal of the hairs along the spine between the croup 

 and withers and, so far as is known, by the absence of the bez 

 tine. 



In the above given table no use has been made of the antlers 

 as distinguishing features. These vary so much with age and 

 from a variety of unknown causes that I am convinced too 

 much confidence is placed in them in most systematic treatises 

 on Deer*. At the same time it may be useful to bear in mind 

 that the recorded antlers of C. wcdlichii appear to differ from 

 average antlers of C. hanglu and C. affmis in the basal juxta- 

 position and marked distal divergence between the brow and bez 

 tines, and at least from those of C. affinis in the comparative 

 straightness of the beam which lacks the sharp upwai'd curvature 

 of its distal half. It will be highly interesting to see if the 

 example of C. ivcdlichii now living in the Gardens grows, under 

 the changed conditions of its existence, antlers resembling those 

 that it shed on its journey from India. This and the colour of 

 its summer coat I hope to have the chance of recording later on. 



As regards the stature of the Deer described above, Blanford 

 gave the height of G. hanght as ranging from 48 to 52 inches. 

 The example of this species now in the Gardens is barely 48 inches. 

 C. affinis, according to Hodgson, stands from 54 to 60 inches 

 and thus rivals a Wapiti in stature. A small Canadian stag 

 Wapiti now in the Gardens is about 56 inches, and an example 

 of C. xanthopygus 58 inches. But since Hodgson's measurements 

 of G. affinis were taken from dried skins, his estimate must have 

 been largely guess-work and probably erred on the side of 

 exaggeration than otherwise. Blanford, or the authorities from 

 whom his information was derived, measured in all probability 

 freshly killed specimens of G. hanglu ; and since dead animals 

 give higher stature-measurements than living ones, exaggeration 

 in connection with this species must also be allowed for. 



Our living example of G. ivallichii is as nearly as possible 

 51 inches, and is manifestly much smaller than any stag of the 

 Wapiti group, whether American or Asiatic, that I have seen. 

 It is, however, exactly the height assigned by Hardwicke to 

 the typical example of this species that was exhibited in the 

 menagerie at Barrackpore. 



* I can see no I'eason for adopting Mr. Lydekker's suggestion (' Field,' May 11th, 

 1912) that the Stag he described from a pair of shed antlers picked up in Szecbuen 

 as Cervus canadensis wardi (P. Z. S. 1910, pp. 987-989) is identical with Cervus 

 wallichii. 



