160 Rusine Group 



in the Museum collected by Mr. A. H. Everett in Basilan evidently belong 

 to older animals, having the antlers larger, although of the same type. 



In 1896 Mr. D. G. Elliot described a small deer from Basilan collected 

 by Mr. Steere, by whom the British Museum mounted specimen was also 

 obtained. The author states that " the specimen serving as the type, and 

 which is the only one I have seen, is a fully adult male, and the horns, for 

 their size, are heavy and rough. In shape they are very different from 

 those of C. philippinus, the brow-antler being quite short, diverging rapidly 

 to a point, and joining the beam at a sharp angle. The inner tine is of the 

 same shape and about the same size as the brow-antler, and bends backwards 

 and very slightly inwards. The burr is rather small, and but slightly larger 

 than the beam in circumference. The latter is thick and straight, with 

 little or no taper, the outer tine, which curves slightly inward, being simply 

 the natural prolongation of the beam to a point. It is widest at the forking 

 of the inner and outer tines. 



" From C. nigricans, the present animal differs in the colour of the coat, 

 which is much brighter than that of Sir Victor Brooke's species, and also 

 by the form of the skull." 



The author then gives details of the points of difference between the 

 skull of his specimen and that of the typical female of the present form 

 figured by Sir Victor Brooke, remarking that these are apparently too great 

 to be due to sex alone. 



In a subsequent communication Mr. Elliot adds the following : — "Last 

 autumn, having had an opportunity to examine the type of C. philippinus in 

 the Natural History Museum in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, I ascertained 

 that my new species was hardly comparable with it in any way save a 

 similarity in the shape of the antlers; C. steerii is not much over half the 

 size of C. philippinus, and differs also in the colour of the coat. In fact, it 

 would seem to belong to quite another section of the group than that 

 represented by C. philippinus. Besides the type, there were several other 

 examples of the species in the Museum, but all of them, even the young 

 animals, were much larger than the type of C. steerii. It would seem, 

 therefore, that we must look for its near ally in some other species of 

 Philippine deer, as yet unknown to me." It is also stated that in the 

 Basilan sambar the metatarsal gland is not different in colour from the hair 

 of the rest of the leg, that there are no dark moustache-like markings on 



