228 Mr. J. E. Gray on the Hollow-homed Ruminants. 



genus as having solid horns like the Cervi, but simple and per- 

 sistent. Now I need scarcely observe that these characters will 

 not define the genera, for all Goats have not erect horns, if any 

 have, and it is the same with the other genera ; and we all know 

 that the Antelopes have tubular horns, in the sense that word is 

 used by Linnaeus, as much as the Oxen, Sheep and Goats ; but this 

 error of Gmelin has had its influence up to this time, for the horns 

 of Antelopes in Cuvier' s first and last edition of ' Le Regne Ani- 

 mal ' are described as having " the nucleus of the horn solid, and 

 without pores or sinuses, like the horns of the Stags." 



M. Geoffroy, perceiving that the characters furnished by Lin- 

 nseus were not sufficient to separate the Antelopes from the other 

 genera, examined the structure of the prominences of the frontal 

 bones which form the core or support of the horns of the An- 

 telopes, and he describes the core of the horns of the Antelopes 

 to be solid and without sinuses, while he characterizes the cores 

 of the horns of the Goats, Sheep and Oxen as in great part occu- 

 pied with cells which communicate with the frontal sinus, and 

 Cuvier, Latreille and most authors have without re- examination 

 adopted these characters. 



Some years ago T examined the cores of the horns of many 

 species of Antelopes for Colonel H. Smith, and found they were 

 all more or less cellular within, and these cells had a commu- 

 nication with the frontal sinus ; certainly the cells are not so nu- 

 merous as in the thick horns of some Oxen, but they are quite as 

 numerous for the thickness of the core ; but it is to be remem- 

 bered that the general character of the horns of Antelopes is to 

 be slender and elongated, and consequently there is not so much 

 room for cells, as their presence would destroy the strength of 

 the core so as not to form a fit support for the horns ; and thus 

 this character is merely reduced to one dependent on the small 

 size or slenderness of the horns, which, though usual, is not 

 universal in the genus, for example in the A. Oreas and others. 



Colonel Smith, aware of this difficulty, divided these animals 

 into two families : Caprida, characterized by having the horns 

 " vaginating upon an osseous nucleus totally or nearly solid," 

 containing the genera Antilope, Capra, Ovis, and a new genus 

 which he called Damalis for the Antelopes with high withers ; 

 and second, the family Bovidce, with horns " vaginating upon a 

 bony nucleus not solid, but more or less porous and cellular," in- 

 cluding the genera Catoblepas or G-nu, Ovibos or Musk Ox, and 

 Bos*. 



This arrangement shows that much reliance is certainly not to 



* I may remark that Cuvier says that the germs Bos has a large naked 

 muffle, yet two species which he refers to it have a hairy muzzle like the 

 Sheep, viz. Bos grunniens and B. moschatvs. 



