764 



ARTIODACTYLS 



XXXI. 12 



family is not clearly marked off from the antelopine. The goats (Capra) 

 are characteristically mountain-living animals of the Holarctic region, 

 with backwardly curved but not twisted horns, and the sheep, Ovis 

 (Fig. 512), are closely related, but addicted to less mountainous 

 country and with a slight spiral on the horns. The beard and scent 

 glands of the male are signs that there are great differences in social 

 and sexual organization between sheep and goat life, in spite of the 

 similarity in structure. 



Thus there is very great variety of life and structure in the modern 

 bovids, and one of the most striking conclusions about the group is 

 that the specialists have not yet succeeded in finding an agreed system 

 of classification. More important perhaps than these problems is the 

 fact that with their fine cropping mechanism, grinding battery and 

 stomach the bovids provide the only satisfactory intermediary by 

 which grass can be used as a contributor to human life. This, with their 

 peaceful and gregarious disposition, has made them our most impor- 

 tant commensal. If there were no Bovidae there would be fewer human 

 beings in the world, and our social organization would be very dif- 

 ferent. The obverse is also true ; it is probable that their lives and ours 

 will continue to evolve together and mutually to modify each other. 



FlG. 512. Barbary sheep, Ovis. (From life.) 



