94 ANTELOPES 



of which were protected by stone walls and wattles. Lower down 

 there was a large stretch of cultivated land, and several groups of huts 

 forming the village of Lurey." 



THE BUBAL HARTEBEEST 



{Bubalis boselapJms) 



Kargicin, Tuareg ; Begra el Onach, Arabic 



(Plate iv, fig. i) 



In spite of its general use, scarcely any name is less easy of 

 definition than the title " antelope," which is applied to almost any 

 hollow-horned ruminant coming under the designation neither of an 

 ox, a sheep, nor a goat. Being far too useful and generally accepted 

 to be discarded, it must be remembered that when this term antelope 

 is used, it is employed in a very general, and not in a strictly zoological 

 sense. That is to say, antelopes do not form a single subfamily of 

 the hollow-horned ruminants of equivalent rank with the Bovimc or 

 the CaprincB ; but rather include a number of such subfamilies, each 

 of which ranks with the two latter. 



The first of such subfamily groups is constituted by the harte- 

 beests, bastard-hartebeests, and gnus, and is technically known as the 

 BubalidincE. The members of this group are all more or less ungainly- 

 looking ruminants of comparatively large size, with naked muzzles, small 

 gland-apertures on the face below the eyes, and large valved nostrils, 

 of which the lower lids are covered with a number of short bristly 

 hairs. They have long tufted or hairy tails, and large lateral hoofs. 

 There are no tufts of long hair on the knees, and the teats of the 

 female may be either two or four. From the presence of horns in 

 both sexes, the comparatively large size of those of the females, and 

 the shape of those of the gnus, it might be inferred that the antelopes 

 of this group are near relatives of the oxen. This, however, is negatived 

 by the conformation of their cheek-teeth, which in the upper jaw 

 have tall and very narrow crowns, more like those of the sheep and 

 goats. The skull has shallow pits below the eyes for the face-glands, 

 but no unossified spaces in this region, and no depressions on the 

 forehead. The group is restricted to Africa. 



From the other two genera the typical hartebeests are distinguished 

 by their peculiarly elongated and melancholy-looking faces, maneless 



