1 8 2 Rusine Group 



the spotted coat and the length of the tail, both these having doubtless 

 been inherited from the common early Pliocene ancestor. In the develop- 

 ment of a trez-tine to the antlers, as well as in the tendency to lose the 

 spots, and also in the black-bordered white caudal area, the sikas have 

 departed from the ancestral type apparently retained by the chital. 



Fic;. 49. — Skull and Antlers of Chital. From a specimen in the British Museum. 

 (Rowland Ward, Records of Big Game.) 



Distribution. — Almost the whole of India and Ceylon. Mr. Blanford 

 writes that this species "occurs at the base of the Himalayas, not, how- 

 ever, ascending the mountains beyond the lower spurs, from the neighbour- 

 hood of the Sutlej to Nepal, but not in Sikhim. It is not found in the 

 Punjab plains, nor in Sind, and only to the eastward of Rajputana ; it is 

 wanting also in Assam and to the east of the Bay of Bengal, but is 

 c ommon in the Sandarbans, apparently as far east as Mymensing, through- 



