ANTI LOPING. 



271 



muffle generally present. Feet-pits usually in all four feet. Inguinal 



pits in some ; eye-pits usually present. Four mammse in most. 



This family comprises antelopes, goats, and cattle, which may form 



as many sub-families. They are entirely wanting in South America 



and Australia. 



Sub-fam. Antilopin^, Antelopes. 



Horns in both sexes, or only in the males. Eye-pits in all, and feet- 

 pits in most. The bony nucleus of the horn is generally solid, and often 

 has a sinus at the base within. The horns are seated below the crest of 

 the frontal s, and are usually consideraby apart at the base. There are 

 inguinal pits in many, and the muffle is often wanting. The mammse a^e 

 in most cases four. The occipital plane of the skull forms an obtuse angle 

 with the frontal plane. They resemble deer in the lightness of their make ; 

 they are of still more slender form, with finer limbs, and possess 

 still greater speed, but physiologically they are far removed from them.* 

 Their hair is generally finer and more smooth than in deer. 



The horns of antelopes are variously bent, usually ringed at the base, 

 and round and smooth at the tip, situated well forwards, almost over the 

 edge of the orbits. They are never branched, except in one species, the 

 prong-horned antelope of North America, which, by its harsh hair and 

 tail, evidently forms a sort of link between the antelope and deer, and 

 which, I have noticed, has been removed by a recent writer to the Deer 

 family. One small group has four horns. The eye is usually very large, 

 deep brown or almost black, contrasting with the light eye of the Caprince. 

 It is situated at the upper margin of the forehead, remote from the 

 nostrils. The head is lengthened, owing to the elongation of the nasal 

 bones ; the ears are seated well back, and are long. Antelopes mostly live 

 in more or less numerous herds, and are found chiefly in the old continent, 

 by far the greatest number being from Africa, with many types. 



Antelopes have been variously grouped. Blyth, in his Catalogue, 

 distributes them in the sub-families, Tragelaphince, Cephalophirwe, 

 Adenotince, and Antilopince, of which the first and the last alone have 

 representatives in the Indian Fauna. Taking their habits as well as 

 structure, the Indian members of this sub-family may be classed into 

 Bush-antelope and Desert-antelope. 



BuSH-AXTELOPE, TragelapMncn, apud Blyth. 

 Horns smooth, unknotted, spiral in some, females usually without 

 * Throughout the Bengal Presidency all antelopes are popularly called deer. 



