CERVID.E 315 
bladder. The hemispheres of the brain are but slightly convoluted, 
and the cotyledons of the placenta are arranged in a peculiar linear 
manner.? 
Although, owing to variations of colour presented hy different 
individuals in different localities and seasons, several nominal species 
have been described, zoologists are now generally agreed that there 
is but one, the J/osehus moschiferus of Linneus. In size it is rather 
less than the European Roe Deer, being about 20 inches high at the 
shoulder. Its limbs, especially the hinder ones, are long. “The feet 
are remarkable for the great development of the lateral pair of hoofs, 
and for the freedom of motion they all present, so that they appear 
to have the power of grasping projecting rocky points, —a power 
which must be of great assistance to the animal in steadying it in 
its agile bounds among the crags of its native haunts. The ears are 
large, and the tail quite rudimentary. The hair covering the body 
is long, coarse, and of a peculiarly brittle and pith-like character, 
breaking with the application of an extremely slight force; it is 
generally of a grayish-brown colour, sometimes inclined to yellowish- 
red, and often variegated with lighter patches. The Musk-Deer has 
a wide distribution over the highlands of central and eastern Asia, 
including the greater part of southern Siberia, and extends to 
Kashmir on the south-west and Cochin-China on the south-east, 
always, however, at considerable elevations,—being rarely found in 
summer below 7000 feet above the sea-level, and ranging as high as 
the limits of the thickets of birch or pines, among which it mostly 
conceals itself in the day-time. It is a hardy, solitary, and retiring 
animal, chiefly nocturnal in its habits, and almost always found 
alone, rarely in pairs, and never in herds. It is exceedingly active and 
sure-footed, having few equals in traversing rocky and precipitous 
ground; and it feeds on moss, grass, and leaves of the plants 
which grow on the mountains among which it makes its home. 
Most of the animals of the group to which the Musk-Deer 
helongs, in fact the large majority of mammals, have some portion 
of the cutaneous surface peculiarly modified and provided with 
glands seeveting some odorous and oleaginous substance specially 
characteristic of the species. This, correlated with the extraordin- 
ary development of the olfactory organs, appears to offer the princi- 
pal means by which animals in a state of nature become aware of 
the presence of other individuals of their own species, or of those 
inimical to them, even at very great distances, and hence it is of 
extreme importance both to the well- being of the individual and to 
the continuance of the race. The situation of this specially modified 
portion of skin is extremely various, sometimes between the toes, 
as in Sheep, sometimes on the face in front of the eyes, as in many 
1 For the anatomy of Aoschus sce Flower, Prov. Zool. Sve. 1875, p. 159 ; 
and Garrod, ibid, 1877, p. 287. 
