OK THE:. HIPPELAPHUS. 159 



The common Deer had also been known to wear a short, soft, thin sown 

 coat, and afterwards it had been seen covered with long, rough, and dark 

 hair, and even to have on its neck and chin such long hairs as to bear the 

 appearance of a mane and beard. 



It was also well known that numerous local or accidental causes might 

 alter the horns, either as to their size or their direction, and even the number 

 of their branches ; and, ever persuaded that Deer claimed no indigenous 

 country, but lived equally well in all places, it was thought that Aristotle's 

 description might be either unfaithful or incomplete, rather than allow that 

 great observer to have described exactly an animal no longer to be found. 



Gesner, Cuius, and others among the learned have pretended that the 

 Hippelaphus was no other than the Elk (Cervus Alces Linn.) which in fact 

 bears some of the characteristic marks indicated by Aristotle. Buffon how- 

 ever in opposing this error triumphantly, falls into another in considering 

 the Hippelaphus as a variety of the European Deer. Exleben and Linnaeus 

 recognized it in the Deer of the forests of Germany, and, on that account, 

 called it Cervus Hippelaphus, still considering it as a variety of the Ela- 

 plius. Monsieur Cuvier himself thought it right to adopt the opinion of his 

 predecessors, and this idea confirmed by so many respectable authorities, 

 is so generally received at present, that it will require almost as many years 

 to destroy, as were requisite to establish it. 



And yet it appeared natural to believe in the existence of the Hippela- 

 phus as a peculiar species, since the Europe Deer very common in Bengal, 

 must have been so likewise in those neighbouring countries, visited by Aris- 

 totle, and that having it in his power often to compare these kinds of ani- 

 mals, that great naturalist could not have mistaken them. For as to the 

 peculiarities of a beard and mane, of size and colour, if they were to be 

 met with in a certain degree in the Europe Deer, there also existed another ' 

 character very specific, that of the horns, which Aristotle compares to those 

 of the lloe-buck, a difference too marked to be considered as a modificati- 



