RUMINANTTA. 197 



short and bent forwards ; a beard under the middle of the neck; 

 hair greyish ; double, black, and white, strongly marked rings 

 on all the feet just above the hoof. The female has no horns. 

 This species is from India. 



A. rupicapra, L. ; Buff, XII, pi. xvi ; Ysard'in the Pyrenees. 

 (The Chamois.) The only ruminating animal in the west of 

 Europe that can be compared with the Antelope, having how- 

 ever peculiar characters : its straight horns are bent suddenly 

 backward like a hook ; behind each ear, under the skin, is a 

 sac, whose only external opening is a small orifice. (l) Its size 

 is that of a large Goat. The hair is of a deep brown, with a 

 black band descending from the eye towards the muzzle. The 

 swiftness of its course among rocks and precipices is wonder- 

 ful, and it remains in small herds in the middle region of the 

 highest mountains. 

 M. Smith separates from the Antelopes, under the generic name 

 of Catoblepas, the 



Ji. gnu, Gm.; Buff. Supp. VI, pi. viii and ix. (The Gnou.) 

 A very singular being, which, at the first glance, seems to be a 

 monster composed of parts of different animals. It has the body 

 and croup of a small Horse, covered with brown hairs j the tail 

 furnished with long white hairs, like that of the Horse, and on 

 the neck a beautiful straight mane, the hairs of which are white 

 at the base and black at the tip. The horns, approximated and 

 enlarged at the base like those of the Cape Buffalo, descend out- 

 wardly, and turn up at the point; its muzzle is large, flat, and 

 surrounded with a circle of projecting hairs ; under the throat 

 and dewlap is another black mane ; the feet have all the light- 

 ness of the Stag's. Horns in both sexes. Inhabits the moun- 

 tains to the north of the Cape, where it is rather rare, although 

 the ancients appear to have had some knowledge of it.(2) 



The three remaining genera have the bony core of the 

 horns principally occupied with cells, which communicate with 

 the frontal sinuses. The direction of their horns furnishes 

 the characters of the divisions. 



(1) It was perhaps a mistaken idea respecting- the indication of this orifice 

 which led the ancients to say, that, according' to Empedocles, Goats breathed 

 through the ears. 



(2) This species most probably gave rise to the catoblepas. See Pliny, lib. 

 VIII, cxxxii, and iEhan, lib. VII, c. v. 



The most complete work on the subject of the Antelopes is that of M. Ham. 

 Smith, inserted in the work of Griffith, and I regret that the want of sufficient 

 subjects for observation have prevented me from giving all its details. 



