Guide to the great fame animals (Ungulata) in the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History) : Illustrated by 53 text and other figures.

  • British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Guide to the great fame animals (Ungulata) in the Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History) : Illustrated by 53 text and other figures. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lower prong is the longer, formed by the antlers of the bucks. [Case 58.] There is a tuft of hair on the inner side of the tarsus, but none on the outer surface of the metatarsus. The fawns are uniformly coloured ; and the two species are chiefly distinguished by a slight difference in the antlers, and by coloration. Ill® Brockets The ®roc^e^s^ °f which there are about half a [Case 58.] n M dozen species, are some of the smallest American Deer, ihey are confined to Central and south America. The antlers of the bucks are in the form of simple spikes ; and in both sexes the hair on the middle line of the face radiates in all directions from two points, one situated on the crown of the head, and the other below the line of the eyes. The fawns are spotted; and upper canine teeth are present in some of the species. Brockets associate in pairs; the does producing a single fawn in December or January. The adults run with considerable speed for a short distance, but can be easily ridden down. The group is represented in the gallery by a mounted specimen of the Central American M. sartorii (1312) and by a skeleton of the South American M. rufa (1313). Pl^my Deer The sPec*es this germs;> Pudua pudu (1314), of the [Case 58.] GenilS Pudua Chilian Andes, is the smallest of the American Deer, and is nearly allied to the Brockets, from which it differs by a peculiarity in the structure of the ankle-joint. The antlers of the bucks are very small, and the tail is short. The specimen exhibited was presented by the Duke of Bedford. The Wfassk Deer The Musk-Deer or Kustura, Moschus moschiferus [Case 58.] Genus Mosel ' (1316), of Central Asia, represents by itself a subfamily of Deer (Moschino), distinguished by several marked anatomical characters from the Cervince, which includes all the other Deer. Both males and females are without antlers; but the former have long scimitar-like tusks, projecting some distance below the lips (fig. 47). The hair is very coarse and brittle. The musk, from which the animal takes its name, is secreted in a sac-like gland on the under surface of the body of the male. It has a peculiar and very powerful odour, and is largely used in the manufacture of perfumes. In the Himalaya Musk-Deer are found at elevations of from 8,000 to 12,000 feet, in forest or brush-wood.