OF THE HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS. 37 



and contemporary Buffon. Even so early as the year 1 764, two years before the publi- 

 cation of the twelfth edition of the ' Systema Naturee,' the last superintended by Linnieus 

 himself, the French philosopher had, in the twelfth volume of his ' Histoire Naturelle,' 

 described new forms and indicated important relations among the hollow-horned Rumi- 

 nants, of which it is presumed that the personal rivalry known to exist between these 

 two great men alone prevented the illustrious Swede from availing himself. I have 

 elsewhere had occasion to express my belief that this unfortunate rivalry, and the mu- 

 tual contempt which either party affected to entertain for the labours and opinions of 

 his adversary, were, in all probability, the original cause of BufFon's antipathy to system- 

 atic arrangement in general, and the only impediment which prevented that eminent 

 naturalist from giving us a more philosophical classification of Mammals than has ever 

 yet been published. Tacit admissions of the scientific value of classification — and the 

 little he has done in this line is invariably characterized by the elegance and penetration 

 of his genius — break out in various parts of the ' Histoire Naturelle,' more especially 

 where he has an opportunity of correcting or supplying the deficiencies of Linnaeus, as, 

 for instance, in the case of the American Monkeys, and of the group at present under 

 consideration. But however this may be, BufFon's article on the Gazelles, contained 

 in the twelfth volume of his great work, was the most important addition that had been 

 made to the generic distribution of the Ruminants, as well as to the list of species, since 

 the time of Ray, and must be considered as the first monograph of the genus two years 

 afterwards founded upon it, and more formally proposed by Pallas, under the name of 

 Antilope. Exclusive of nine distinct species enumerated under the generic head, nine 

 others were here described in detached articles ; so that at this early period Buftbn was 

 more or less perfectly acquainted with no fewer than eighteen species of Ruminants after- 

 wards associated in tlie genus Antilope ; whilst he has the singular merit of having in- 

 troduced only two nominal species, and one other of a different genus into his list. The 

 singular copiousness of BufFon's list, though published two years before it, forms a strong 

 contrast to the meagre poverty of Linnaeus's, and furnishes a remarkable instance of the 

 antipathy which this great man bore to his equally great contemporary, since he would 

 not even condescend to benefit by his labours'. 



The memoir of Pallas, which may be accounted the second monograph of the genus, 

 was in a great measure a compilation from that of BufFon, but executed with all the 

 judgment and discrimination which distinguish that author, and enriched with numerous 

 original observations, and a careful revision of synonyms. It was first pubhshed in 

 176G, in the 'Miscellanea,' republished the year following in the first Number of the 



' The species described by BufFon are A. dorcas, kmetta.gutturosa, koba, kob, algazel (confounded with oryx), 

 dama, cervicapra, addax, rupicapra, saiga, bubalus, strepsiceros, scripta, grimmia (not mcrgens), pygmaa, redunca, 

 and areas : and though the last nine are described in separate articles, they arc expressly recognized as related 

 to the Gazelles, under which generic title are embraced the first nine species ; so that Buffon must be considered 

 as the actual founder of the genus, though his name gave way to that afternrards proposed by Pallas. 



