(in his 'Highlands of Central India'), was of
opinion that the Sambar does not shed its horns annually, and states
that this also is the opinion of native shikaris in Central India.
This, however, requires further investigation. I certainly never
heard of such a theory amongst them, nor noticed the departure from
the normal state.

There have been several classifications of the Cervidae, but I think
the most complete and desirable one is that of Sir Victor Brooke
(_see_ 'P. Z. S.' 1878, p. 883), which I shall endeavour to give in
a condensed form. Dr. Gray's classification was based on three forms
of antlers and the shape of the tail. But Sir Victor Brooke's is
founded on more reliable osteological details. As I before stated
in my introductory remarks on the Ruminantia, the first and fourth
digits, there being no thumb, are but rudimentary, the metacarpal
bones being reduced to mere splints; the digital phalanges are always
in the same place, and bear the little false hoofs, which are situated
behind and a little above the large centre ones, but the metacarpal
splint is not always in the same place; it may either be annexed to
the phalanges, or widely separated from them and placed directly
under the carpus. The position of these splints is an important
factor in the classification of the Cervidae into two divisions,
distinguished by Sir Victor Brooke as the _Plesiometacarpals_, in
which the splint is near the carpus, and the _Telemetacarpals_, in
which the splint is far from the carpus, and articulated with the
digital phalanges. All the known species of deer can be classified
under these two heads; and it is a significant fact that this pedal
division is borne out by certain cranial peculiarities discovered
by Professor Garrod, and also, to a certain extent, by an arrangement
of hair-tufts on the tarsus and metatarsus. In the Old World deer,
which are with few exceptions _Plesiometacarpi_, those which have
these tufts have them above the middle of the metatarsus, and those
of the New World, which are, with one exception, _Telemetacarpi_,
have them, when present, below the middle of the metatarsus.

There is also another character in addition to the cranial one before
alluded to, which was also noticed by Professor Garrod. The first
cranial peculiarity is that in _Telemetacarpi_, as a rule, the
vertical plate developed from the lower surface of the vomer is
prolonged sufficiently downwards and backwards to become a