WATER-DEER, Hydrelaphus inermis, a small member of the deer-tribe from northern China differing from all other Cervi dae except the musk-deer (with which it has no affinity) by the absence of antlers in both sexes. To compensate for this the bucks are armed with long sabre-like upper tusks (see DEER) ; a second form, H. kreyenbergi, has been distinguished, from Hankow. Water-deer frequent the neighbourhood of the large Chinese rivers, where they crouch amid the reeds and grass. When
running, they arch their backs and scurry away in a series of short leaps. This is one of the few deer in which there are glands neither on the hock nor on the skin covering the cannon-bone. These glands probably enable deer to ascertain the whereabouts of their fellows by the scent they leave; but the sub-aquatic habits of the present species render such a function impossible. The tail is a mere stump.