58 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



rials of his long captivity, is the small " musk deer " 1 

 so called in India, although neither sex is provided with 

 a musk -bag. The Europeans in Ceylon know it by the 

 name of the " moose deer ; " and in all probability the 

 terms musk and moose are both corruptions of the 

 Dutch word " muis" or " mouse " deer, a name par- 

 ticularly applicable to the timid and crouching attitudes 



"MOOSB" DEER (MOSCHUS MEMINNA). 



and aspect of this beautiful little creature. Its extreme 

 length never reaches two feet ; and of those which were 

 domesticated about my house, few exceeded ten inches 

 in height, their graceful limbs being of proportionate 

 delicacy. It possesses long and extremely large tusks, 

 with which it can inflict a severe bite. The interpreter 

 moodliar of Negombo had a milk white meminna in 

 1847, which he designed to send home as an acceptable 



1 Moschus meminna. 



