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Show 1869.] CERVINE A N I M A L S O F H A I N A N . 653 Judging from my own skins and the specimens in the Museum, Cervulus vaginalis attains a much larger size (say one-third) than C. reevesi. It is of a darker and richer colour, and is at once distinguished by the two round black tufts on the forehead. In C. reevesi these tufts are replaced by black lines, with a longer black line starting between the ears and running along the back of the neck to the shoulder. I have two pairs of horns of the Cervulus from Hainan. The one I take to have belonged to a two-year-old. In this the brow-antler is a tine set inwards of the front of the beam. Total length of horn 3\ inches, cleft from base 1, brow-tine from cleft \. The horn bends inwards at its tip ; it is mounted on a long bony pedicle 2\ inches long. Breadth between bases of bony pedicles 2\ inches, between horns at base 3f, between horns at tips 4f. The second pair belonged to an older animal, I should say a 3-4- year-old. In this the brow-antler is set more inwards still. The horn measures 4^ inches, its bony pedicle 1^; breadth between the latter at bases 2\, between horns at bases 3|, between horns at tips 3g ; circumference of horn at base 2|. As the animal grows older the bony pedicle shortens and thickens, and, as shown by these two cases, the horns grow more parallel. Mr. Blyth agrees with me in m y identification of the Hainan Muntjac. He writes, " Your Hainan Cervulus is of the species inhabiting all India, with Ceylon, Indo-China, Malacca, and Sumatra, as distinguished from that of Java." In a native work, containing some notes on the natural productions of Hainan, no difference is recognized between this and the ordinary Chinese species, C. reevesi. The work alludes to it as " the Chang, like a small deer, but more elegant. The male is the Keun, the female the Yu. Delights in a display of colours. The hunters flourish before it rags of brilliant colours, and it stops to stare at them." The C. vaginalis is known to the Hainanese as the Ilwangkia, and under that name is spoken of as distinct from the Chang in the above Chinese work. The note on the Hwangkia is as follows : - " Large as a dog, has horns, and is in form a good deal like a Deer. Its flesh, when sliced and dried, is in taste somewhat similar to that of the Deer." The cry of this species is very like the short bark-like grunt uttered by C. reevesi. 2. The Hainan Panolia agrees with the Cervus eldi of Burmah and Siam. I have five pairs of horns and two odd ones, and the skin of a female in summer coat, and one of a fawn. The skin of the fawn is of a rich chestnut, deeper, with black hairs intermingled, on the back. A line of indistinct yellowish spots runs along either side of the dorsal centre from the shoulders to the tail, and a few more of similar spots occur in rear of shoulder-blade and about the hip-joint. The breast-girdle is brown. Between the fore legs and hind legs is pure white, the white running down the inner centre of the hind legs to below the shank ; the under part of the tail and between the buttocks are also pure white; a dark brown line passes down the front of the fore legs. Tbe female skin answers well to the skin of the buck, in summer dress, that died in the Society's Gardens |
