142 Rusine Group 



Hvc/aphus, Sundevall, op. cit. p. 181 (1846) ; Gray, Cat. JJngulata Brit. 

 Mas. p. 215 (1852), Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mas. p. 79 (1872). 



Ussa (Onssa), Heude, Mem. hist. nat. emp. Chinois, vol. ii. p. 20 (1888). 

 Samhi/r, Heude, op. cit. pp. 20 and 41 (1888). 

 Melanaxis, Heude, op. cit. p. 47 (1888). 



Characters. — Antlers rounded, three-tined, with both the bez (second) 

 and trez (third) tines wanting, and the beam simply forked at the ex- 

 tremity. Pelage either uniform, or spotted, at all seasons and all ages, or 

 intermediate between the two, without a light-coloured caudal disk, or 

 black-bordered white area on the buttocks. Throat and neck often heavily 

 maned ; ears usually large ; tail relatively long. Naked portion of the 

 muzzle large, extending on to the upper surface of the face, and not 

 constricted above its junction with the upper lip. The face - gland, 

 or tear -pit, frequently very large and capable of complete eversion. 

 Upper canines small or wanting; upper molars tall - crowned, with a 

 small additional column on the inner side. Size large, medium, or 

 small. 



By previous writers the Indian spotted deer has been invariably 

 separated as a distinct sub-genus or genus (Axis), but its antlers are of 

 essentially the same type as those of some forms of Rasa proper, and the 

 latter are intimately connected with it through the Philippine spotted 

 deer and the hog-deer. Indeed, by those writers who do not separate 

 it sub - generically or generically as Hye/aphus, the latter species is 

 referred alternately to Rasa and to Axis. Accordingly, the latter group 

 is merged in the former, of which it doubtless represents a less specialised 

 type. 



It has been customary to regard the anterior or inner tine of the 

 terminal fork of the antlers in this group as corresponding to the trez 

 (third) tine of the red deer group, 1 but there seems no reasonable doubt 

 that Mr. A. Gordon Cameron is correct in his view that the trez-tine is 

 unrepresented in this group, as it also is in the rucervine group. 



The simple form of the antlers indicates that the group is a generalised 

 one. The original type would appear to be represented by the Indian 

 spotted deer, or chital, in which the white spots are persistent at all ages 

 and all seasons. A more advanced modification is displayed by the hog- 



1 Compare the figures in Sir Victor Brooke's monograph of the Cervida. 



