OF THE HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS. 51 



group to exemplify their effect, whether we consider the deficiencies of the prevailing 

 distribution or the natural and lucid arrangement of which the application of these prui- 

 ciples will show them to be susceptible. ^ ., » , „u:,u 



Besides the peculiar characters furnished by the conformation of the stomach, which 

 are common to all Ruminants, and those derived from the modifications of the teeth and 

 extremities, in which the Camdidce alone offer any very marked difference there are 

 others of a less general nature indeed, but which nevertheless are neither destitute of 

 iniporJance nor of a very considerable influence upon the habits and oeconomy of the 

 animals. These characters, most of which are peculiar to t^^e RunnnanUa -ay be con- 

 veniently classed and considered under the following heads :-I. Horns ; II. Form of the 

 upper lip ; III. Crumens and other glands ; and IV. Feet and digital pores. 



I HoKNS.-Under this head are to be considered-1. The substance of the horns ; 

 2. Their permanent or deciduous character; 3. Their presence or absence m different 

 eenera and sexes ; and 4. Their number, forms and flexures. 



1 Of the suhstance of the Horns.-Ml ruminating animals which possess these organs 

 have them supported upon pecuUar processes of the osfrontis, of greater or less extent, 

 according to the nature of the horn and the age of the individual. In the Cernd^, 

 ! nely speaking, they are thick and short, and have the horn articulated by a flat 

 inular surface to their upper extremity ; yet in the Muntjacs they are so slender and 

 m-olonged as to exceed the length of the horns themselves ; and in the G.m/e they en- 

 tirely supply their place. In all the hollow-horned genera they are likewise long bu 

 lender and attenuated, and assume the various forms and curvatures that regulate the 

 we of the horny sheath into which they are inserted, and to which they orm a core 

 ofsupport. In some cases the substance of this bony core is sohd, or at least pene- 

 a ted only by minute pores ; in others, and they are by far the greater number, i^^ s 

 Itually hollow, or fiu'l with large cancelli, which communicate with the frontal sinuse 

 VL varieties are not confined to any particular groups, but are equally common both 

 to solid and hollow-horned genera. The Giraffe, for instance, has ^^ry extensive can- 

 cell so likewise have the O.en, Sheep, Goats, and all the larger species hitherto classed 

 am tg the Antelopes ; nor have I found the solid core, so much insisted on as a gene 

 Taracter by MM Cuvier and GeoflVoy St. Hilaire'. in any of these animals, except the 

 A. cervicapra, the Dorcas, and their allied species. 



The texture of the horn itself is of much greater consequence than that of tl e coie or 

 process vMeh supports it. In the Deer, as is well known, it consists of solid bone, 

 S -s td andTenewed periodically . in all the other ^^^^^^^^^^ X 

 are of an excrementitious substance, similar to the '^^^^f .^"^i^;';; J^,,; ", 

 within and cover the osseous process like a sheath or scabbard. Hence ^e ha^e the 

 Two g;eat^ f^^^^^^^^^^ of SoM. and HoUou-horned Ra.unants, a distinction which carries 



' Rfcgne Animal, i. 2GG. 



h2 



