nchylosed
to the horizontal plate of the palatals, forming a septum completely
dividing the nasal cavity into two chambers. In the _Plesiometacarpi_
this vertical plate is not sufficiently developed to reach the
horizontal plate of the palatals. The second cranial peculiarity is
that in the Old World deer (_Plesiometacarpi_), the ascending rami of
the premaxillae articulate with the nasals with one or two
exceptions, whereas in the New World deer (_Telemetacarpi_), with one
or two exceptions, the rami of the premaxillae do not reach the
nasals. It will thus be seen that the osteological characters of the
head and feet agree in a singularly fortunate manner, and, when taken
in connection with the external signs afforded by the metatarsal
tufts, prove conclusively the value of the system. In India we have
to deal exclusively with the _Plesiometacarpi_, our nearest members
of the other division being the Chinese water-deer (_Hydropotes
inermis_), and probably _Capreolus pygargus_ from Yarkand, the horns
of a roebuck in velvet attached to a strip of skin having been
brought down by the Mission to that country in 1873-74.

Now comes the more difficult task of subdividing these sections into
genera--a subject which has taxed the powers of many naturalists,
and which is still in a far from perfect state. To all proposed
arrangements some exception can be taken, and the following system
is not free from objection, but it is on the whole the most reliable;
and this system is founded on the form of the antler, which runs from
a single spike, as in the South American _Coassus_, to the many
branches of the red deer (_Cervus elaphas_); and all the various
changes on which we found genera are in successive stages produced
in the red deer, which we may accept as the highest development; for
instance, the stag in its first year develops but a single straight
"beam" antler, when it is called a "brocket," and it is the same as
the South American brocket (_Coassus_). On this being shed the next
spring produces a small branch from the base of this beam, called
the brow antler, which is identical almost with the single bifurcated
horn of the _Furcifer_ from Chili. The stag is then technically known
as a "spayad." In the third year an extra front branch is formed,
known as the tres-tine. The antler then resembles the rusine type,
of which our sambar stag is an example. In the fourth year the top
of the main beam throws out several small tin