NOTES OX INDIAN ZOOLOGY. 



587 



XXIX. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON INDIAN 



ZOOLOGY. 



BY H. FALCONER, M.D. 



I. — Note on Cervus Duvancellii. {Cuv.) 



The deer and antelopes of India are still but imperfectly known, and 

 much doubt exists about the number and character of the species. Much 

 has been done by Indian naturalists Jately, but a great deal remains to 

 be accomplished. The number of species in the group of the genus 

 Cervus, called Rusa by Hamilton Smith, is by no means settled, and 

 the characters of the species are ill-defined. Mr. Hodgson has thrown 

 much light on the Eusine deer of Nepaul, and the tract of Terai below 

 it, as well as on every point connected with the zoology of the Hima- 

 layahs to which he has given his attention. I entirely agree with him 

 that the characters derived from the horns, as restricted to the sub- 

 genus Rusa by Major H. Smith, are insufficient. The Kalo e/araz figured 

 by Mr. Hodgson in the 1st volume of the Journal As. Soc. (p. 115) has 

 no terminal subdivision of the beam, and no branch from the horn but 

 the brow antler. The animal now to be noticed forms another exception 

 from the group, in having the beam divided into four subterminal 

 branches, but in other respects possessing all the characters of the Rusa, 

 I believe, in so far as could be determined from the fresh head. 



Subgenus Rusa. 

 Cervus Eucladoceros. (^Nob.) ^ 



Stature very large ; horns round, slender for the size, roughly ridged 

 and furrowed ; basal antler anterior, long, thrown off at a large angle ; 

 beam reclining, divergent, quadrifurcate, giving off above the middle 

 an internal bifiu-cate branch with snags of unequal length, and termi- 

 nating in a fork with nearly equal processes ; sub-orbital sinus large ; 

 muzzle broad ; canines. 



Head large ; ears large, lined with long whitish hair. Horns massive 

 near the burr, 7 inches in circumference, 2^ inches apart on the brow. 

 Bez antler low, long, anterior and erect, slender, slightly recurved, roughly 

 ridged to about three-quarters of the length, and tapering into a very 

 smooth and sharp ivory white point, thrown off at an angle of above 



' This Bote was written in 1835 or 

 ]836, but was never published. In a 

 drawing of the specimen described, the 

 species was subsequently desigaated in 



Dr. F.'s writing, Cervus Duvancellii. The 

 species appears to be the Cervus Ela- 

 -pho'idcs, orthe2?«Amiy«of Hodgson. (See 

 Cat. Mam. in Brit. Mus: p. 204.)— [Ed.] 



