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MR. A. DE CARLE SOWERBY OX 



was very similar to that of a young male labelled mandchuricus 

 also from Mukden, though the former, the younger, was shorter 

 proportionately than the latter. In connection with these two 

 specimens it should be noted that in all probability they did not 

 come from the immediate vicinity of Mukden, but were brought 

 there for sale by native hunters or were kept in captivity there. 

 The nearest forest country suitable for these deer to inhabit, even 

 as long ago as 1899, could only have been a hundred miles or so 

 to the east on the borders of the Fengtien (formerly Shenking) 

 Province. 



The name Gervus mantchuricus Swin. undoubtedly applies to 

 the species inhabiting North and Central Manchuria, and Gervus 

 dybowshii to the species inhabiting the Primorsk. To which of 

 these two species, if either, the North Corean !Sika belongs cannot 

 be determined here. 



The specimen labelled Gervus grassianus from Tching-lo-hsien 

 (Tsing-lo Hsien), Shansi, consisting of a pair of horns only, 

 afforded but little scope for comparison with the other specimens 

 in the Museum, but it was noticeable that the horns were large 

 and heavy, resembling those from Manchuria rather than those 

 from the Yang-tze. 



Whether the Shansi Sika is referable to Milne-Edward s's Gervus 

 mandarinus from the Imperial Hunting-park, Chihli, I cannot 

 say. No really good specimens of this deer (from Shansi) have 

 been secured. I have seen summer and winter skins, the former 

 being a fine rufous colour, very much like that of the North China 

 roe (Gap?'eoliis bedfordi) in summer, studded with white spots, and 

 having a dark median-dorsal line, while the latter is grey, much 

 lighter than Milne-Ed wards's figure, with dark median- dorsal 

 line. The horns also of this deer attain a large size, and I 

 have seen considerably larger specimens than those in Heude's 

 collection. 



In dealing with skulls from the Yang-tze I laid out the whole 

 series and compared them with each other and with those from 

 Manchuria and Tonkin. I could detect no difference that might 

 be called specific between the ten species described by Heude and 

 represented in the series before me (Nos. 5 to 14 inclusive in the 

 list given above). Such differences as did exist could be attri- 

 buted to the varying ages of the specimens or to perfectly natural 

 individual variation. The variations in length and breadth, such 

 as were noticed with the Manchurian skulls, were again notice- 

 able here, and as before coincided with the varying ages of the 

 animals. 



Of the three male skulls with well-developed horns, labelled 

 G. pouvrelianus, C. brachyrhinus, and G. cycloserus, the first had 

 the widest spread and the best development, though it fell 

 considerably short of the Manchurian and Shansi horns. 



A single specimen of a fully adult male labelled G. andreanus 

 from Ning-kuo-fu had well -developed horns, which, however, 

 were smaller and lighter than those of any of the three specimens 



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