THE PERSIAN DEER. 
Cerrns maral. 
Plate XII. 
This fine species of Deer is nearly allied to the Red Deer of Europe, and Northern Asia, but is easily 
distinguished by its elongated muzzle (as is well shown in Mr. Wolf’s group of figures) and by other 
peculiarities. Sir John McNeill, who presented two examples of the Persian Deer to the Society’s Menagerie 
in 1840, informs us that this animal “is found in all the wooded mountain districts of Persia, but apparently 
does not occur in the central parts of that country. They rarely descend into the plains. During the 
summer they resort to the highest wooded parts of the mountains, and during the winter to the low r er 
ravines, near their bases, where they are frequently tracked in the snow.” 
The original male of this Deer in the Society’s Gardens, was captured in Circassia during the Crimean 
war, and together with a female passed into the possession of the Earl of Ducie, F.Z.S. Lord Ducie, after 
keeping this pair of animals three seasons at Tortwortli, presented them to the Society in 1857. Since that 
period this species has bred in the Gardens nearly every summer, and a succession of hinds has been produced. 
Mr. Wolf’s sketch shews the adult male and female and the young of this deer, in its spotted dress ot 
immaturity, which is characteristic of the whole group. 
For a long period, following Dr. Gray, I have been accustomed to call this animal Cervus wattichu, 
supposing it to be the stag figured in F. Cuvier’s “ Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes,” under that name. 
But I have recently convinced myself that this figure, which was taken from an animal formerly living in 
the Barrackpore Menagerie near Calcutta, is referable either to the Caslimirian Stag (Cerrns cashmirensis), 
or to the Tibetan (C.affinis), and that the only scientific name strictly applicable to the present species is 
“Cervus maral ”—the title by which it is designated on the plate which represents it in the “ Knowsley 
Menagerie ” 
