Deer

(der.) [A.S. dêor.] (Zool.) The generic name of Fig. 252.- ELAPHURUS DAVID I AN US. the animals which compose the Cervidæ, under which denomination the main characteristics of the species and principal members of the family are described. In this place we content ourselves with introducing to our readers a new species, quite recently imported from China into the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. The Chinese give to this animal the name of sieu-pou-siang, which, literally interpreted, signifies " the four (characters) which do not agree," because in their opinion the animal resembles the deer by its horns, the cow by its hoofs, the camel by its neck, and the a by its tail. Milne-Edwards has proposed for this new species the name of Elaphurus (fromGr. elaphos, stag, and ou ros, tail) David i an us (after the name of M. David, a French mi ionary in China); the principal characteristics of this species being the disposition of the tail, which, instead of being short and thick, as in other animals of the Cervidæ, is long and furnished towards the end with bushy hairs. The accompanying figure represents a young specimen, the antlers of which are as yet undeveloped. [s. 271]