PANTHOLOPS. 471 
existence of two orifices in the groin, which communicate with long 
tubes running up into the body. The Tartars say that the antelope 
inflates these with air, and is thereby enabled to run with greater 
swiftness! The muzzle of the Thibetan antelope is quite different from 
that of most of the deer and antelope tribe, being thick and puffed 
looking, with a small rudimentary beard ; the eyes are set high up in 
the head; the sub-orbital sinus is wanting ; the horns are singularly 
handsome, jet black, and of the closest grain, averaging about twenty- 
three or twenty-four inches in length. They are beautifully adapted for 
knife handles. The females have short black horns, and are much 
smaller than the males.” 
The last is a doubtful point; as far as I have been able to gather 
evidence on the subject the female appears to be hornless, which allies 
fantholops more to the antelopes and the gazelles. Major Kinloch 
may have taken some young males for females, the general colouring 
being much the same. In the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ 
for 1834, p. 80, there is an extract from a letter from Mr. Hodgson, 
which, with reference to previous correspondence, says: ‘‘ The com- 
munications referred to left only the inguinal pores, the number of teats 
in the female, and the fact of her being cornute or otherwise, doubtful. 
These points are now cleared up. The female is hornless, and has two 
teats only; she has no marks on the face or limbs, and is rather smaller 
than the male. The male has a large pouch at each groin, as in Azz. 
dorcas ; that of the female is considerably smaller.” Mr. Hodgson further 
remarks that “the chiru antelope can only belong either to the 
gazelline or the antelopine group. Hornless females would place it 
among the latter; but lyrate horns, ovine nose, and want of sinus, 
would give it rather to Gazella, and its singular inguinal purses further 
ally it to Ant. dorcas of this group. But from Gazella it is distinguished 
by the accessory nostrils, of inter-maxillary pouch, the hornless females, 
the absence of tufts on the knees, and of bands on the flanks. The 
chiru, with his bluff bristly nose, his inter-maxillary pouches, and 
hollow-cored horns, stands in some respects alone.” 
Hodgson was apparently not well acquainted at the time with saiga, 
or he would have certainly alluded to the affinity. Kinloch has the fol- 
lowing regarding its habits :— 
“In Chang Chenmo, where I have met with it, the elevation can be 
nowhere less than 14,000 feet, and some of the feeding grounds cannot 
be less than 18,000. In the early part of summer the antelope appear 
to keep on the higher and more exposed plains and slopes when the 
snow does not lie ; as the season becomes warmer, the snow, which has 
accumulated on the grassy banks of the streams in the sheltered valleys, 
begins to dissolve, and the antelope then come down to feed on the 
grass which grows abundantly in such places, and then is the time when 
