1850.] Additional Notice of the Shou or Tibetan Stag. 519 



The pelage, like that of every other strictly Himalayan and Tibetan 

 ruminant, has, as is evident from the covering of this head, a harsh, 

 brittle, quill-like character, and probably, on the body of the animal, 

 also a wavy structure ; for, on the head this last feature of such pelages 

 is always wanting. The hair of the head is straight and copious, 

 devoid, as usual, of the fine woolly subfleece proper to the body, 

 and on the crown of the forehead it has a length of 3^ inches. The 

 colour of the hair, like its quality, is that so common to the ruminants 

 of Tibet, namely, a purpurescent or embrowned slaty blue passing 

 into paler or grey slaty on the less coloured parts, and terminated 

 externally or tipt with fawn or luteous buff passing into canescent 

 fawn. The orbits and lining of the ears are nearly or quite white, and 

 the lips show a ruddy ocherous tinge void of any dark marks. 



The scull, which is 17i inches long to the jut of the occiput and 

 6^ inches wide between the outer angles of the orbits (in rectilinear 

 measurements), has the frontals broad, flat and a little hollow before 

 the bases of the horns ; the orbits salient and extending laterally be- 

 yond the zygomatic arches; the nasals compressed and somewhat arched 

 lengthwise ; the cavities for holding the larmiers large and perforate, 

 but less so than in the Rusas ; the horn-pedestals low and thick ; and, 

 lastly, the occipital plane wide in proportion to its height, and oblate 

 hemispherical in shape. The horns, of a size greatly inferior to those 

 priorly given, originate remotely from each other below the summit 

 of the frontals, spread very amply in their ascent, and recline a good 

 deal before they begin to ascend. The colour of the horns is brown, 

 and their surface is smooth. There are two basal, one central, and 

 one terminal snags to each beam. The former or basal snags of each 

 beam are proximate and parallel to each other, have an anteal external 

 insertion, and a horizontal direction, with the tips of all four bent 

 uniformly upwards. The two inner ones lean directly over the eyes 

 and side of the face, and the two upper and outer ones run, almost 

 parallel, outside of the former which they somewhat exceed in size. 



The central snag is the smallest of all, placed equidistantly from the 

 lower and upper snags, inserted on the outside of the beam, and di- 

 rected forwards and outwards with the lip reverted, as in the basal 

 snags. The apical snag also starts from the outside of the beam, but 

 has an upward direction and little divergency from the beam, which 



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