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Show 1893.] NEW STAG FROM TIBET. 447 The following are measurements in inches :- Basal length of skull, from anterior border of foramen magnum to anterior end of premaxillaries 13#4 Length from posterior border of occipital condyles to ditto 14-3 Breadth across posterior edges of orbits 6*8 Breadth across premaxillaries just above canines .... 2*9 Length of nasal bones 5-85 Greatest breadth of nasals between lachrymal vacuities 3*0 Breadth of nasals in front at suture between maxillary and premaxillary 1*45 Length of row of upper molars and premolars 4*3 Length of upper three molars alone 2*6 On the whole I can see no very close affinity between this and any known species of Cervus • the present species approaches some forms of the Elaphine group quite as much as any other Cervine type, perhaps more. I can see no evidence of Pseudaxine affinity, such as the horns might perhaps suggest. On the whole the species is probably as near to C. cashmirianus and C. affinis as to any other, though perfectly distinct from both. As regards the name of the present species, some little difficulty arises. As already mentioned, it is most probable that the horn to which the name Cervus nariyanus was given by Hodgson (J. A. S. B. xx. 1851, p. 292, pi. viii.) belonged to a younger individual of the same species. This horn was said to have been brought from Ladak, it was 34 inches in length, and had four points, the two lower being more than 4 inches apart, so there was no bez tine. Judging by the figure1, the horn was more massive than would be expected in a young specimen of Thorold's Stag. Mr. Hodgson remarked that " the Bhotiahs who brought this horn say it belonged to a very young animal, and that the species, which is proper to Gnari or Western Tibet, is larger than the Shou" (G. affinis). The Stag obtained by Dr. Thorold is considerably smaller than the Shou; there is, so far as is known, no Stag in Western Tibet, C. cashmirianus being limited to the Kashmir valley, at all events ou the north and east of its range, and, as is well known, young examples of C. elaphus, and I believe of the Wapiti also, frequently want the bez tine; so that it is by no means impossible that the Ladak horn may have belonged to a young G. cashmirianus from Kashmir, to G. yarkandensis from Eastern Turkestan, or even to C. eustephanus (C. canadensis, var.) from the Thian Shan, Ladak being connected with all these regions by trade routes. The Bhotiah story was probably pure fiction. There is, moreover, one very strong reason for not using the name 1 The original specimen cannot be found in the British Museum, though Mr. Oldfield Thomas has searched for it. As no mention of it is to be found in the published catalogue of M r. Hodgson's collections, it was perhaps not included in them. |
