OCR Text |
Show 1875.] PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON THE MUSK-DEER. 177 Fig. 14. Upper surface of brain of Pudu Deer (Cervus humilis\ natural size. ' Letters as before. The Skeleton. The skeleton oi Moschus has been described by A. Milne-Edwards, though somewhat briefly except as regards the skull. I will only add a remark upon the number of the ribs. He says :-" D'apres Pallas, le nombre des paires de cotes varierait de 14 a 15 ; tandis que «hez les Cerf leur nombre est ordinairement de 13, bien qu'on trouve (chez le Renne, par exemple) parfois 14." In the skeleton which fig. 14); the general arrangement of the sulci is the same; but they are somewhat more complex, almost equalling in this respect those of tbe Roe. It differs, however, from the latter (if Leuret's figure can be trusted) in the greater breadth of the anterior part of the superior gyrus, and especially in the appearance of a considerable-sized strip of the internal or hippocampal gyrus on the upper surface of the hemisphere bordering the hinder part of the great longitudinal fissure, exactly as in the Musk-Deer. This character thus forms no special approximation to tbe Tragulina in the last-named animal, but is probably common to all the smaller Cervidce. The chief characteristics of the brain of the Musk, as distinguished from the other members of the family to which it belongs, are the simplicity of the surface-markings and narrowness of the anterior lobes-indications of a lower or more primitive type. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1875, No. XII. 12 |