40 MR. OGILBY'S MONOGRAPH 



appears to have proceeded by a different route from that of Dr. Lichtenstein, though he 

 has adopted the same principles of classification. Instead of making the composition 

 of his groups depend upon some preconceived essential characters, as appears to have 

 been the plan of the German naturalist, he has followed an inverse method, and con- 

 tented himself with separating from the main group successive detachments of what he 

 conceives to be the most anomalous species, afterwards elaborating the characters of 

 the subgenera thus formed from those of their component species. By this means he 

 has unquestionably succeeded in forming a few natural groups, to which no other ob- 

 jection can be made than that they are considered as subdivisions of a primary group, 

 W'hich is not itself a natural genus ; but, generally speaking, they are neither sufficiently 

 comprehensive nor definitely distingiiished from one another, and, as a necessary con- 

 sequence of the plan pursued, the residual group, or that which remains after the sepa- 

 ration of the abnormal species, and which contains very nearly as many species as all 

 the others together, is liable to the same objections as the original genus, to the same 

 uncertainty, the same confusion, and the same want of definite characters. 



Such as it is, the division of De Blainville was adopted by Desmarest, and made the 

 groundwork of that portion of his ' Mammalogie' (published in 1822) which relates to 

 the Antelopes, and which forms unquestionably the best monograph of the genus ever 

 published. Besides a copious and well-digested list of synonyms, it contains detailed 

 descriptions of forty-five species, of which three only are nominal, one belongs to a dif- 

 ferent genus, and four others are marked doubtful, three of which, however, have since 

 been satisfactorily verified ; and, considering the poverty of his materials, — for, besides 

 the Cape collection of Lalande and a few other species contained in the Paris Museum, 

 Desmarest had no means of studying the animals themselves, — deserves to be considered 

 as a monument of research and critical acumen. To the eight subgenera established 

 by M. De Blainville he added three others, two of which, viz. the separation of the 

 Antelopes proper from the Gazelles, and of the Eland from the Koodoo and Boshhok, 

 were decided improvements ; the third destroyed M. De Blainville's best group, by se- 

 parating the Aigoceres and Oryxes, which we shall afterwards find to compose a per- 

 fectly natural genus ; and the residual group, the greatest defect of that naturalist's 

 distribution, remained unchanged in the hands of his successor. To give some idea of 

 the arbitrary and artificial construction of this group, I shall here set forth its charac- 

 ters as given by Desmarest, and it will be at once seen that they are neither sufficiently 

 general nor sufficiently exclusive to be applicable to practical purposes, much less to 

 entitle them to be considered of scientific importance. 



" Comes simples, tantot k courbure anterieure ou posterieure, tantot droites, peu ou 

 point annelees [h I'exception de celles de I'Antilope cambtan), sans arete, dans le male 

 seulement, ou dans les deux sexes ; souvent des larmiers ; muffle manquant ordinaire- 

 ment ; point de brosses (si ce n'est dans I'Antilope ourebie) ; des pores inguinaux ; quatre 

 mamelles (I'Antilope des buissons exceptee) ; queue courte'." 



' Desmarest, 'Mammalogie,' p. 457. 



