224 Roes 



hitter relationship is the closest. The under-mentioned fossil species shows 

 that the genus is an ancient type. The existing roes are so similar to one 

 another that they might well be regarded as sub-species instead of species, but 

 in a restricted genus the matter is of no importance, one way or the other. 



Distribution. — The Eastern Holarctic region, dating from the early part 

 of the Pliocene period. 



i. The European Roe — Capreolus vulgaris 



Cervus capreolus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 94 (1766) ; Jenyns, 

 Brit. Vert. Animals, p. 35 (1835) ; Bell, British Quadrupeds, p. 407 (1837) '•> 

 Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. p. 487 (1846). 



Cervus capreolus fossilis, Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, ed. 3, vol. iv. p. 103 

 (1825) ; Meyer, Palceologica, p. 95 (1832). 



Cervus [Capreolus) capreolus, H. Smith, in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, vol. 

 iv. p. 124, v. p. 314 (1827) ; Blasius, S'dugethiere Deutschl. p. 457 (1857). 



Capreolus vulgaris, Fitzinger, Beitr. Landesk. Osterreichs, vol. i. p. 317 

 (1832), SB. Ak. Wien, vol. lxviii. part i. p. 353 (1873), lxx. part i. p. 239 



(i8 7 4)- 



Capreolus europceus, Gloger, Handbuch Naturgeschichte, p. 140 (1 841) ; 

 Sundevall, K. Svenska Vet. Ak. Hand/, for 1844, p. 184 (1846). 



Capreolus capraa, Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus. p. 917 (1843), Cat. 

 Ungulata Brit. Mus. p. 222 (1852), Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 81 (1872) ; 

 Brooke, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 917. 



Capreolus fossilis, Owen, Rep. Brit. Assoc. for 1843, P- 2 3^ ( I ^44)> ^ r/i - 

 Foss. Mamm. p. 487 (1846). 



Capreolus caprea, Bell and Alston, British Quadrupeds, p. 362 (1874) ; 

 Flower and Garson, Cat. Ost. Mus. Coll. Surg, part ii. p. 318 (1884) ; 

 Ward, Records of Big Game, p. 53 (1896) ; Satunin, Zool. Jahrh. Syst. vol. 

 ix. p. 3 10 (1 896). 



Plate XVII J 



Characters. — Height at shoulder about 26 inches or rather more (a speci- 

 men in the British Museum from Dorsetshire measures 27 inches, as 

 mounted). Ears long, pointed, and comparatively thickly haired, both ex- 

 ternally and internally. Antlers only moderately rugose. Pelage in summer 

 thin, and at the early part of the season uniformly foxy red above, with- 



