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Show 52 SIR V. BROOKE ON THE DEER OF THE PHILIPPINES. [Feb. 6, The skull of this species is an exact miniature of that of Cervus aristotelis. Skeleton. Fourteen pairs of ribs. Cervical vertebrae remarkably large. Female. In external coloration differs in no way from the male. Young. Of a uniform brown without spots. Hab. Island of Luzon, Philippines. The Philippine Deer is a very stout-built, short-limbed, powerful animal, in carriage and general appearance closely resembling the common Sambur (Cervus aristotelis). Literary History. 1820. M . Dussumier obtained a young male in Luzon which he sent to Paris; the animal died en route. Desmarest gives a short notice of the arrival of this specimen in Paris (Mamm. p. 442, note 1), where the specimen is still preserved in the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle (No. 409 in the Catalogue of the Museum). 1827. Hamilton Smith, in Griffith's 'Animal Kingdom ' (vide supra), describes this specimen and names it Cervus philippinus. He considered the species allied to the Muntjacs. 1836-37. In the stores of the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris there are several skins undoubtedly referable to Cervus philippinus. These specimens were obtained during the voyage of the * Bonite.' Eydoux and Souleyet, while they describe and figure their indefinite species, Cervus pseudaxis (Voy. de la Bonite, vol. i. p. 64, pl. 12), are entirely silent respecting the Philippine Deer, of which species they had collected such ample materials. 1844. Prof. Sundevall (vide supra) places the species amongst the Rusine Deer. He points out for the first time the absence of hair on the posterior surface of the metatarsal phalanges. 1851. Capt. Diguet presented a male and female of this species to the French Academy of Sciences. The specimens had been obtained at Manilla. 1855. The female obtained by Capt. Diguet having died in the previous year, Pucheran, in the ' Revue et Magasin de Zoologie ' (vide supra), published a very careful and detailed description of the specimen, which he correctly refers to Cervus philippinus. 1857. Capt. Diguet's male having died in 1856, Pucheran continued his observations on the species (vide supra), which he considered to differ decidedly from Cervus mariannus. 1866. Mr.Louis Fraser exhibited and figured (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 367) the horns of a Deer killed near the village of Bosa-Bosa, in Luzon. These horns, as far as it is possible to judge from a drawing, appear in no way to differ from those of Cervus philippinus. I therefore think Mr. Fraser was premature in his decision that they were referable to Cervus mariannus. 1875. Some years ago I observed a Deer in the Zoological Gardens at Berlin which appeared to me irreconcilable with any species with which I was acquainted. Upon mentioning my difficulty to Mr. Sclater he considered the matter worthy of attention, and succeeded |