Introductory 



and Central America, one extinct form having alone penetrated into the 

 latter area. 



That the Old World is the original home of the BovicLc may be con- 

 sidered as beyond dispute. And their paucity in North America (where 

 they are now represented only by the American bison, the musk-ox, the 

 big-horn, and the so-called Rocky Mountain goat) may not improbably 

 be due to the circumstance that most of them are inhabitants of warm 

 regions, and would consequently have been unable to cross what is now 

 Bering Strait at the time when the Old and New Worlds were con- 

 nected in that region. The few species that did succeed in crossing by 

 this route are more or less exclusively cold-loving animals, which may 

 account tor the family never having succeeded in penetrating into the 

 hot southern halt ot the New World. 



Geologically speaking, the Bovidte appear to be a comparatively modern 

 group. They are unknown in the strata where the earliest deer make their 

 appearance. And although a tew antelopes, which are the most general- 

 ised members ot the tamily, are known trom the Miocene deposits of 

 Europe, the oxen, sheep, and goats were not developed, so far as we know, 

 before the Pliocene period ; and it is even doubtful whether sheep came 

 into existence betore the Plistocene period, although remains attributed to 

 them have been reported from the Pliocene deposits of the Siwalik Hills 

 in the North of India. 



With regard to the members of the tamily torming the subject ot the 

 present volume, these constitute the sections or sub-families termed Bovifue 

 and Ccipriihe by the scientific zoologist. As the general characteristics of 

 these sub-families may be gleaned from those given as distinctive ot the 

 various genera, it will be unnecessary to define them in this place. A 

 word must, however, be said with regard to the limitations ot the term 

 " soats," which occurs in the title of this volume, seeing that its technical 

 and popular significations are not exactly the same. One of the lour 



