Mr. J. E. Gray on the Hollow -horned Ruminants. 229 



be placed on M. Geoffroy's character for the genus Antilope, for 

 here the Goat and Sheep are said to have the same peculiarity as 

 he gives to separate the Antelopes from them. 



Several authors after this period considered the subgenera pro- 

 posed by De Blainville and Colonel H. Smith as genera, and 

 grouped them into families. 



Mr. Ogilby, in a theoretical arrangement of Ruminants, pub- 

 lished in the { Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1836, 

 divides these animals into two families characterized thus : Ca- 

 pridce, " muffle none ;" BovicUe, " muffle distinct, naked." Of this 

 arrangement I need only remark, that he places Ovibos in Caprida 

 and Bos in Bovidce, Kemas or the Jemla Goat in Bovidce, and 

 Capra in Capridce, thus separating into distinct families most 

 nearly allied species ; while the genus Ixalus, which is an antelope 

 with rudimentary horns, is referred to the family Moschidce, and 

 the Gnu is entirely overlooked. I am satisfied, if Mr. Ogilby had 

 attempted to arrange a collection by this system, he must have 

 soon abandoned it. 



Within the last few years Professor Sundevall of Stockholm 

 has proposed to arrange these animals according to the form of 

 their hoofs, and he has regarded the subgenera of preceding 

 authors as genera, and divided them into four families thus : 



1 . Caprina, containing Ovis, Capra, Nemorhedus and Oreotragus. 



2. Antilopina : Antilope, Dicranoceras and Bubalus. 3. Bovina : 

 Oryx, Catoblepas, Ovibos, Bos, Anoa, Portax, Damalis. 4. Syl- 

 vicaprina : Hippotragus, Strepsiceros, Cervicapra, Calotragus, 

 Nanotragus, Neotragus, Sylvicapra, Tragelaphus and Tetracerus. 

 In this arrangement he appears to have overlooked the fact, 

 that the hoofs of these animals are modified according to the 

 kind of country which the animal is destined to inhabit, and 

 therefore this arrangement is dependent on that single circum- 

 stance, and not on the considerations of all the peculiarities of the 

 species ; hence the species which inhabit rocky pinnacles, as the 

 Thar and Ghoral {Nemorhedus) and Klipspringer (Oreotragus), 

 are separated from the other Antelopes and placed with the Goats, 

 and the large and heavy Antelopes which inhabit the plains, as 

 the Oryx, Port ax and Damalis, are placed with the Oxen. 



If this system is fully carried out, the Rein Deer should be se- 

 parated from its allies and placed with the Musk Ox ; and I am 

 not certain that the Addax antelope should not be arranged in 

 the same group, for it has the same shaped hoofs, the sands of 

 the Desert probably requiring the same structure for progression 

 as the snow. 



After examining all these arrangements, and after repeated 

 examinations of the animals, I believe that the form of the horns 

 affords the most natural character for subdividing them into 



