Robert Swinhoe, On the Japanese and Formosan deer

Swinhoe, Robert. “On the Japanese and Formosan deer,” Annals and Magazine of Natural History Series 3, Vol 8 (1861): 192.

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[15 May 2021 updated]

(A List of Taiwan-related Works by Robert Swinhoe is available here.)

 

On the Japanese and Formosan Deer. By ROBERT SWINHOE.

Mr. Robert Swinhoe (in a letter dated “British Consulate, Amoy, China, April 5, 1861”) remarks:—

“I see in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for February 1861, page 143, on the Japanese Deer, that a mistake has occurred owing to incorrect information. Mr. Blyth describes a Deer under the name Cervus taiouanus from the skull of an adult I sent him. This was procured from the Formosan Deer supposed to be C. pseudaxis. Subsequently I sent him four live Deer, which I distinctly informed him were received from Japan; but whether through inability to read my letter, or for some reasons to me unknown, he set down in his belief that the old buck was from Formosa and the other three from Japan. All four of the Deer sent him were from Japan, and the skull alone from Formosa. There can be no possible doubt that the former belong to any other than the Japanese species C. sika, Schleg., of the ‘Fauna Japonica.’ That the Formosan Deer is distinct from the Japanese I have no shadow of doubt, from the various opportunities I have had of comparing the animals from the two different places. The old Formosan bucks stand at least one foot higher than the Japanese bucks, and their horns are somewhat flattened at the end; one of the former has been sent by the Dutch Consul here to Leyden. I am doing my utmost to procure a pair of these handsome animals for the Zoological Gardens. I am told that a Stag is also found near Ningpo, but have never seen examples. The large species from the north found in the Summer Palace Gardens, of which I sent three skins to the Zoological Gardens, yon will be able to determine as soon as the ‘Harkaway,’ in which vessel they were shipped, arrives in England. If the Zoological Society will remunerate the masters of the vessels for the conveyance of live Deer to England, I dare say I can manage to defray all expenses here in procuring the animals.” —Proc. Zool. Soc. June 11, 1861.