Characters 143 



deer, in which the spots disappear in the adult during the winter. But 

 the most specialised forms of all are the various kinds of sambar, in which 

 the adult is uniformly coloured at all seasons, while even the fawn may 

 have lost its dappling. It is probable that the group reached the Oriental 

 region at a comparatively early epoch (remains of fossil species occurring 



Fig. 38. — Frontlet and Antlers of Indian Sambar. From a specimen from Simrol, in the 

 British Museum. (Rowland Ward, Records of Big Game.) 



in the Pliocene strata of the Siwalik Hills), and that it has had no con- 

 nection with the ancestors of any of the preceding groups since the early 

 part of the Pliocene epoch, when it may have branched off" from the 

 sikine stock. Numerous remains from the Pliocene deposits of Europe 

 have been assigned to the present group, but at least a considerable propor- 

 tion of these seem rather to belong to sikas. 

 Distribution. — The Oriental region. 



