Indian Muntjac 203 



Upper canines of male forming long recurved tusks, not growing from 

 persistent pulps, those of female smaller; cheek-teeth tall -crowned. 

 Stature small, and rump elevated. 



The muntjacs, or rib -faced deer, as they are expressively called, form a 

 small but very natural group. In the presence of a brow-tine to the antlers 

 and the structure of the lateral metacarpal bones they resemble the typical 

 deer ; but in the characters of the antlers and their long pedicles, as well as 

 in the retention of tusk-like upper canines, they agree with extinct forms 

 noticed below, so that the divergence between Cervus and Cervulus must 

 evidently have taken place at a remote epoch. In the uniformly coloured 

 coat of the adult, as well as in the rudimentary condition of the lateral 

 hoofs and the total loss of the lateral phalangeal bones of the feet, they 

 display highly specialised characters. They may be divided into two 

 groups, according to whether the coloration of the adult pelage is of a 

 rufous or yellowish tinge, or of a deep sepia-brown ; the members of the 

 second group forming a connecting link between the more typical members 

 of the genus and the tufted deer. 



Distribution. — The Oriental and adjacent districts of the Holarctic 

 region. 



1. The Indian Muntjac — Cervulus muntjac 



Cervus muntjac, Zimmermann, Geogr. Geschichte, vol. ii. p. 131 (1780). 



Cervus vaginalis, Boddaert, Elenchus Anim. p. 136 (1785). 



Cervulus moschatus, de Blainville, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1 8 1 6, p. 77 ; 

 Gray, Cat. Ungulata Brit. Mus. p. 218 (1852), Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. 

 p. 93 (1872). 



Cervulus subcornutus, de Blainville, loc. cit. (18 16). 



Cervulus muntjac, de Blainville, loc. cit. (18 16) ; Brooke, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1874, p. 38, 1878, p. 899 ; Anderson, Yunnan Expedition, p. 337 

 (1878) ; Sterndale, Mamm. India, p. 500 (1884) ; W. L. Sclater, Cat. 

 Mamm. Ind. Mus. part ii. p. 173 (1891) ; Blanford, Fauna Brit. India — 

 Mamm. p. 532 ( 1 89 1 ) ; Ward, Records of Big Game, p. 1 (1896). 



Cervus [Stylocerus] muntjac, H. Smith, in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. 

 iv. p. 144, v. p. 319 (1827). 



Cervus {Stylocerus) aureus, H. Smith, op. cit. vol. iv. p. 148 (1827). 



