185 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



moving on this conjecture. I am strongly inclined to suspect, however, 

 that severe injuries to the skull, inflicted either during battle or through 

 some accident, are the main causes' that produce abnormalities, the 

 horn on the injured side being thrown out of its natural course by 

 the concussion or damage sustained. In an interesting article " On 

 Abnormalities in the Horns of Ruminants" at page 123, Vol. I. of 

 the Society's publication, Mr. Sterndale suggests that possibly the 

 osseous core has something to do with deflecting horns from 

 their natural direction ; but if this be the case, the question would 

 naturally suggest itself — This is an abnormal condition also : by 

 what means did it arise, and how would it affect the shape of horns, 

 which usually present deformities away from the region of the osseous 

 prominence ? This is, I believe, an important consideration, if we 

 are inclined to accept the suggestion, though in certain cases, as we 

 shall see further on, the core may, with some show of reason, be 

 supposed to give the direction. Theories, however, may be multi- 

 plied as to the possible cause of these deformities, but till such 

 time as closer observation and research are brought to bear on the 

 question, no satisfactory or conclusive results can be arrived at to 

 account for them. 



In the accompanying plate some very abnormal types of horn 

 are figured for the purpose of illustrating the various and peculiar 

 shapes some of them have assumed, which, I believe, are of more 

 frequent occurrence in nature than we either imagine or suppose 

 from our very limited knowledge of their existence, and which I 

 shall now proceed to notice. 



As is well known, the horns of the Indian antelope (A. bezoartiea) 

 are graceful objects to look at, and compare very favourably -with 

 those of the other members of the group in beauty and symmetry 

 of shape. They are large and long for the size of the animal, and 

 spiral in form, diverging at the tips, and marked nearly their entire 

 length with strongly developed rings. They vary greatly in diver- 

 gence and degree of spiral twist however, and cases where the}- have 

 grown almost parallel instead of the usual V shape are not unknown. 

 Fig. A in the accompanying illustration represents a pair of very 

 symmeterical and well-formed horns of this type, grown almost 

 parallel with each other. In cases of this nature it will not be 



