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Show 1897.] DEER ALLIED TO CERVUS SICA. 45 longer than in manchurlcus, and in the winter dress is reddish with but little white. In his oft-quoted memoir on the Cervidce, Sir V. Brooke gives mandarlnus as a synonym of manchurlcus, without a single word as to the persistence of the spotting in winter. And the influence of one so well-known as an authority on the group has led to mandarlnus being ignored as a species by all subsequent writers, although there seems little doubt that it is really a distinct form. In his letter in the P. Z. S. for 1864 already quoted, M r. Swinhoe wrote as follows : - " In the gardens of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, & Co., in Hong Kong, I saw several bucks and does of C. sica and C. taevanus, as also of C. axis in winter dress. The bucks of the two former had manes about the neck ; C. sica was spotless, C. taevanus with indistinct spots, while C. axis was' of a rich yellowish-brown colour, with distinct white spots. The latter had long, thin, reddish tails, and, I think, are identical with the true C. axis. They are from Hankow, interior China." Now as Mr. Swinhoe must be presumed to have been well acquainted with both manchurlcus and hortulorum, and as C. axis is unknown beyond India, it appears highly probable that these Hankow Deer were really mandarlnus. The " long, thin, reddish tails " appear to accord well with Milne-Edwards's figure of the latter in winter dress. 4. Formosan Deer.-CERVUS TAEVANUS. Cervus talouanus, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxix. p. 90 (I860); P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 376. Cervus taevanus, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 152, pl. xvi. ; Swinhoe, ibid. p. 362; P. L. Sclater, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vii. p. 345, pis. xxxiii., xxxiv. (1871); Brooke, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 909; W . L. Sclater, Cat. M a m m . Ind. Mus. pt, ii. p. 183 (1891). Pseudaxls taivanus, Gray, Cat. Rum. Brit. Mus. p. 70 (1872), & Hand-list Rum. Brit. Mus. p. 141 (1873). Hab. Formosa. Sir V. Brooke observes a discreet silence as to the right of this form to rank as a species, giving none of its distinctive features. According to Mr. Sclater's description and figures, the Formosan Deer appears to be of medium height (2 ft. 11 in.); the general colour of the summer dress being paler than in sica, and the black of the caudal disc forming a more distinct transverse bar. It is also described as having somewhat longer fur, and a white tail with a broader black median line on the upper surface; aud the spots are stated to show a tendency to persist in wiuter. A female in the British Museum has, however, a chocolate-brown groundcolour in the summer dress. As regards form, the latter specimen appears to be a relatively lower-built animal than either sica or mandarlnus. On this point, Dr. Gray observes that although the Formosan Deer, when contrasted with the Sicines from other |