THE ELAND 



855 



all its four feet gathered into a space of the size of a crown piece; and as its sense of 

 sight, smell, and hearing, are of the acutest, its pursuit taxes the utmost powers of 

 the hunter. 



ELAND 

 Genus Orias 



With the large and handsome African animals known as eland, or impofo, we 

 come to the first representatives of the extensive group of antelopes which 

 includes the whole of the remain- 

 ing members of the Bovine 

 family. Although the term 

 antelope is one in common use, 

 and most of the members of 

 the group are easily recognized, 

 yet, owing to the number of 

 generic types and the diversity 

 of their structure, it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to distinguish 

 antelopes as a whole from the 

 oxen on the one hand and from 

 the goats on the other; the 

 transition to the former group 

 being effected by means of the 

 anoa, and to the latter by the 

 goat-like antelopes just described. 

 Antelopes are, indeed, the most 

 generalized members of the pres- 

 ent family now existing, and 

 since they are also its oldest 

 known representatives, it is prob- 

 able that from them have been 

 derived the more specialized 

 types already treated of, so that 

 the above-mentioned transitions 

 are precisely what we might naturally expect to occur. 



As a whole, antelopes are characterized by their graceful build, and 

 Ch ofTn\?lope? b ^ the head being carried considerably above the level of the back. 

 The horns, which may or may not. be present in the females, are gen- 

 erally long, more or less cylindrical, and often lyre shaped; while they are fre- 

 quently marked with prominent rings, and have an upright direction. Their bony 

 internal cores, instead of being honeycombed, as in the oxen, sheep, and goats, are 

 nearly solid throughout. These animals very generally have a gland beneath the eye, 

 by which they are distinguished from the oxen and goats; but, as regards their teeth, 

 some of them resemble the oxen, while others approximate to the sheep and goats. 



HEAD OF BULL ELAND. 



(After Nicolls and Eglington.) 



