A. TRAGULINA.
As the Tragulina are undoubtedly the most ancient of the Selenodontia it will be logical to commence with an account of them.
Fam. 4. Tragulidae.—This family comprises a number of small Deer-like animals, which are really in many points more related to the Pigs than to the true Deer. They are known as Chevrotains; and the term "Deerlet," introduced by Professor Garrod, is certainly appropriate, since they have the aspect of very small and hornless Deer. If it were not for their Artiodactyle feet one might at a glance confuse these creatures with some Marsupial type. The family is Oriental and West African in range. The two genera (whose individual peculiarities will be considered later) differ from other Artiodactyles in a number of rather important characters.
Fig. 147.—Indian Chevrotain. Tragulus meminna. × ¼.
They are absolutely hornless in both sexes. The canines are present in both jaws, and are especially well developed in the upper jaw. The dental formula is I 0/3 C 1/1 Pm 3/3 M 3/3. In the skull the tympanic bulla is usually, as in the non-ruminating Artiodactyles, filled with loose bony tissue. The feet (usually) have the four toes of the Suina, and are therefore in a more primitive condition than in Deer and Antelopes. But as the middle metacarpals are fused in Tragulus (though separate in Hyomoschus) they are a stage further than are the Pigs, in the direction of the typical Ruminants.
The stomach is comparatively simple, thus offering
intermediate characters between the Pigs and the Ruminants; there are but three separate compartments. A highly-interesting character is afforded by the placenta. This is in the present family of the diffuse kind, not presenting the separated and tufted cotyledons of the Ruminant placenta. This we may fairly assume is a further proof of the less-specialised characters of this group[[183]] as compared with the Ruminantia, a view, however, which is not universally accepted. While the molars have the selenodont character of other Pecora, the premolars are more adapted for cutting, with sharp edges.
The genus Tragulus consists of several species (e.g. T. stanleyanus, T. napu, etc.), which have been aptly compared in external appearance to certain Rodents such as the Agoutis. The legs are delicate and slender, hardly "thicker than an ordinary cedar pencil." These creatures have got among the Malays a considerable reputation for astuteness, embodied in the saying, "Cunning as a kanchil." The male has tusks, which greatly contributed to the confusion of this creature with the totally different Musk Deer, Moschus moschiferus. It is even said to suspend itself by their aid to the branches of trees, and so avoid danger.