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Show 574 MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE DEER. [June 17* (Hwnychow) mountains, who had brought me a fine Tiger's skull, had also the budding velvet of an apparently small-antlered Deer- also that Pere Heude had told me that men from the Fokien province came yearly to the mountains that formed the border between Ganhwuy and Chekiang to hunt Stags for their velvet, which is greatly valued for its medical properties, and that English sportsmen at Chinkiang had reported having occasionally seen Deer with antlers, though none had ever been procured. With this information on m y mind, I did not cease to make inquiries, and was greatly delighted to learn from m y correspondent, Mr. H. Kopsch, the Customs Commissioner at Kiukiang, up the Yangtse river, that now and then dead antlered Deer were brought into the market of that place for sale during the winter. I begged Mr. Kopsch to be on the look-out this winter, as, being at Shanghai myself, a fresh specimen despatched from Kiukiang would reach me fresh, and enable me to examine and describe it; and I promised Mr. Kopsch that, if new, I would dedicate it to him. On the 27th of February I received the animal which I will proceed to describe, with the following note:-"The vendor of the Deer told me it came from the department of Kienchang, on the eastern side of this province (Kiangse), bordering on Fokien. They have antlers; but the one I send has either dropped his or they have not come yet. The man said they are hard to get; men from Fokien hunt them for their horns." The venison was large and fine, and greatly superior to the flesh of Hydropotes, the ordinary venison of Shanghai. CERVUS KOPSCHI, sp. nov. This noble beast measured 4 feet 4 inches from its muzzle to the root of its tail, and stood about 2 feet 10 inches high at the shoulders. Its horns were only in bud; but their pedicles, about 2 inches long and slender, showed that the animal was only in its second year. I doubt whether the horns would ever be very robust; but the mature animal would no doubt attain a larger size. Head small, with very small eye and long ears; neck narrow and long; legs long and thick. Hair on neck rather coarse, on abdomen long and curly. The glandular tarsal spot about If inch in diameter, of a circular form, grizzled black and white, with a bordering circle of buff colour, and situated about 5 inches below the hock. Eyelashes short and black ; long black bristles from above the eyes, and shorter ones from below; black spots on the sides of the snout, each giving rise to a bristle ; bristles also on the chin. A dorsal line runs down the back, starting from between the ears, chestnut-coloured down the hind neck, becomes deep umber-brown between the shoulders, pales along the back, and deepens again on the rump. The upper surface of the tail is black, the colour extending on each side on to the long hairs at the edge of the rump, so as to form a T mark. Upper parts of the body brown, mottled with light yellowish brown ; a row of indistinct white spots along each border of the dorsal line. Humerus, sides of belly, and thighs light purplish brown to knee-and hock-joints, grizzled with yellowish as far as feet, where clear |
