1 66 Rusine Group 



Island, forming one of the Cocos-Keeling group, lying east of Northern 

 Sumatra, Mr. W. H. Forbes 1 mentions the existence of a herd which are 

 " a cross between the Javan rusa (Cervus hippelaphus) and the darker 

 Sumatra species {Cervus eguinus)." 



b. Moluccan Race — Cervus hippelaphus moluccensis 



Cervus moluccensis , Quoy and Gaimard, Voyage Astrolabe — Zool. vol. i. 

 p. 133, plate xxiv (1830) ; Eydoux and Gervais, Mag. Zool. vol. vi. p. 26 

 (1836) ; Brooke, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 904 ; Ward, Records of Big Game, 

 p. 12 (1896). 



Cervus russa moluccensis, Miiller and Schlegel, Verb. Nederl. Zool. p. 212 

 (1839-44). 



Cervus [Hippelaphus) moluccensis, Sundevall, K. Svenska Vet. Ak. Hand/. 

 for 1844, p. 179 (1846). 



Rusa moluccensis, Gray, Knows ley Menagerie, p. 62 (1850), Cat. Ungulata 

 Brit. Mus. p. 209 (1852), Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 77 (1872) ; 

 Fitzinger, SB. Ak. Wien, vol. lxviii. part i. p. 354 (1873), lxx. part i. 

 p. 320 (1874). 



Hippelaphus moluccensis, Heude, Mem. hist. Jiat. emp. Chinois, vol. iii. 

 p. 94 (1896). 



Plate XII 



Characters. — According to Fitzinger, the Moluccan rusa may be dis- 

 tinguished from the Javan race by its inferior size, and especially the want 

 of a distinct mane on the neck of the male, the tail having no distinct 

 terminal tuft, and the hair on the neck being short. The antlers are 

 relatively small, the build is low and stout, and the head large and thick. 



The British Museum possesses the mounted skin of a male rusa formerly 

 living at Woburn Abbey, and presented by the Duke of Bedford, which 

 may be provisionally assigned to this race, although, as its place of origin is 

 uncertain, the determination may be open to doubt. As mounted, it stands 

 3 feet at the shoulder ; and is in the winter pelage. On the back the hairs 

 are distinctly marked with alternate dark and light rings, giving the speckled 

 appearance to this part of the pelage characteristic of the species. The 



1 A Naturalists Wiinderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 31. 



