ABNORMAL HORNS OF THE JNDIAX ANTELOPi 1*7 



difficult to suppose, as suggested byMr. Sterndale, that the bony core 



may be mainly instrumental in giving the upright direction here 



i il. Fig; B is an example of a horn which, in addition to being 



malformed, has also i d broken oif beyond its middle, what there is 



of it having: erown outwards and then inwards behind the other one. 

 Wo do not know, of course, at what particular period of its growth 

 fcui occurred or how it happened, though there is ample 

 ion for supposing that it must have been during an early period 

 < f development, and the theory of injury may here come in with some 

 he damage could have but resulted from something of this 

 are, either in battle or through some accident. 

 At Fig. C we have a very curious and unnatural example in this 

 of animal, the females of which, like those of most of the Cervidae 

 I Autelopiune, are entirely hornless ; but in this case the horns are 

 said to be those of a doe antelope which have grown out wards and down - 

 wards in a most uuusual manner. They are reported to be very thin, 

 only an inch and a quarter in circumference at the base, though 1(»£ 

 inches in length on the outside curve, and perfectly smooth, with neither 

 rings nor flexures on their surface. All known examples of these 

 horns seem to agree in being perfectly thin, though varying in length, 

 and at page 46, Vol. II., of the Society's Journal, Mr. Sterndale has 

 figured and described a pair of very similar horn.s in which the rings, 

 however, were very apparent. These monstrosities are certainly of 

 rare occurrence, but few instances of the kind being known to 

 us, Jerdon mentioning three cases only as being on record in which 

 the horns were " thin and much curved, 'gyring round like those of 

 Ovu amnion.' " Hermaphroditism is undoubtedly the promoting cause 

 of these abnormalities. 



Figi D represents the head of a fine buck at present in the Mysore 

 Government Gardens at Bangalore. In this case the left horn 

 bulges outwards almost at its base, a3 with the sheep, goats and 

 some species of African antelope, sweeps downwards at about half its 

 length, and then twists back upwards and inwards, meeting its 

 fellow-horn near the tip. As this is a living animal, perhaps it is 

 just as well to remark here that it appears a perfect and well- 

 developed specimen of its kind in other respects, with no indication 

 whatever oi disease or other anaemic conditions. Closerinvesl igation, 



