VARIETIES OF ASIATIC DEER 
features of the region, extremely unlikely that more than one species 
should come from the Altai. I do not know exactly what material has been 
available. If only single specimens, subsequent investigations may do 
much to simplify their classification. These Obi and Irtish wapiti may be 
provisionally regarded as local varieties of the Altai race, but I do not 
think they should be given the rank of sub-species. 
The Manchurian wapiti (C. canadensis xanthopygus) is found in the Upper 
Ussuri district of Northern Manchuria. It is also known as C. hedfordi. 
The general colour in winter is brownish grey, in summer bright reddish 
brown, with the dark winter mane and underparts of other wapiti. 
The antlers are shorter and stouter than in the Tian Shan wapiti, 
“ with the fourth tine relatively smaller in immature specimens, and the 
portion above it less developed at all ages. In the five-tined antlers of sub- 
adult stags the tips of the fourth and fifth tines curve towards one another 
like crabs’ claws.” The horns of known specimens vary between 30 and 
38 inches, with twelve to fifteen points. 
Mr R. P. Andrews, in a joint paper with Dr J. A. Allen in the “ Bulletin ” 
of the American Museum of Natural History, gives some interesting notes 
on deer which he hunted in Korea. One was a roebuck which may have 
been C. bedfordi of Manchuria, the other was a large wapiti-like stag which 
may have been C. xanthopygus. Mr Andrews could find no confirmation that 
any European, other than himself, had ever seen this deer alive. 
“It is called by the Koreans of the north sasami. It lives in the 
dense larch forests and comes down to the edge of the marshes to 
feed early in the morning and late in the afternoon. It is exceedingly 
shy, and though I hunted it persistently near Nonsatong and other 
places I saw it only twice, both times being near Nonsatong. Three 
of them had been feeding on the side of a hill before the sun was up 
and a few minutes after sunrise lay down to sleep. When I started 
them they ran down the side of the hill across a marsh, giving me a 
short but excellent view of them. They appear slightly smaller than 
the American wapiti, but carry larger antlers. In the afternoon another 
single specimen was seen, but on neither occasion was I able to get a 
shot. I heard them bark once, the noise being similar to that of the 
roedeer, except that it was very much louder, deeper and hoarser. The 
Koreans sometimes take them by digging pits in their trails, but 
catch very few. Judging from the tracks and other signs which I saw 
201 
DD 
