Altai Wapiti 107 



the horns of the American stag differ from those of the animals found in 

 Eastern Tibet, Kashmir, and Persia are the smoothness of the former, their 

 tendency to flattening or palmation of the crown, their great subdivision in 

 the coronal region, and the marked backward curvature and want of 

 convergence in the upper portion of the beam. Now in all these characters 

 the horns brought from Turkestan appear to be intermediate between those 

 of the other Asiatic stags and the wapiti. The horns of the Turkestan stag 

 differ from those of the wapiti in being less smooth, more curved inwards 

 towards the ends, and in having the brow- and bez-antler much nearer, but 

 they are much nearer to the wapiti horns than they are to those of C. 

 cashmirianus or C. ajjinis. 



" There can, I think, be very little doubt that Cervus eustephanus is the 

 animal described by Severtzoff and Prezewalski as inhabiting the forests of 

 the Thian-Shan and neighbouring ranges. It is a very large animal — as 

 indeed is evident from the dimensions of the horns — adults being, according 

 to Severtzoff, as much as 6 feet high at the shoulder. It is probably 

 known as maral by the Arian tribes of Central Asia, the word being Persian 

 for deer. The true C. mara/, however, inhabiting the forests on the 

 southern coasts of the Caspian, and in the Caucasus, etc., is a much smaller 

 animal, with differently shaped horns." 



The antlers in the British Museum were subsequently examined by Sir 

 Victor Brooke, who pronounced them indistinguishable from those of the 

 true wapiti, of which species Mr. Blanford finally came to the conclusion 

 that the present form is only a variety. All the characters he gives are 

 essentially those of wapiti antlers, of which they are an excellent descrip- 

 tion. That the deer described by Severtzoff are identical with C. eustephanus 

 may be considered beyond doubt, certain slight points of difference from the 

 type of the latter being of no importance ; and as the name asiaticus is the 

 earlier of the two, it is entitled to stand for the sub-species. 



The first living examples of the Altai wapiti received in England were 

 a small herd from the Altai purchased in the autumn of 1896 by the Duke 

 of Bedford from Mr. Hagenbeck. These comprised three stags and several 

 hinds. On their arrival at Woburn Abbey the antlers of the stags were 

 so injured as to afford no distinctive characters, although they seemed to 

 indicate that the animals were immature. The new antlers developed in 

 the spring of 1897 were, however, precisely similar to the shed specimens 



