218 THE C MMON ANTELOPE. 



cnmstance of its having a small gland or tubercle on 

 the loins, about equidistant between the hips and the 

 root of the tail. Major Smith does not, however, 

 surmise what purpose this would serve. The speci- 

 mens to which the name was applied, were part of 

 the collection in Exeter Change, aud stood about 

 twenty-six inches hiprh. The general colour a fulvous 

 bay. The belly and inside of tne limbs white. They 

 were brought from the west coast of Africa, 



The Saiga, A. coins, Smith, is a European animal 

 very little known. The collections of Petersburgh 

 and Vienna, according to Major Smith, being the 

 only museums, in 1827, where entire specimens of 

 this animal were preserved. It is a large animal, 

 nearly equal to the size of the fallow-deer, but more 

 clumsily made ; the horns intermediate between the 

 lyrate form and the twisted appearance of the com- 

 mon Antelope. The colour in summer a grey dun, 

 with a dark stripe down the back. The under parts 

 whitish. It is found on the shores of the Danube, 

 the Carpathian range, Caucasian Mountains, and the 

 Altaic Chain. It is migratory, and said to assemble 

 in troops of ten thousand (singular that our informa- 

 tion is so scanty regarding them). It is a-lso said to 

 be easily tamed, and become gentle. The horns are 

 used by the Chinese for their lanterns. 



The last animal, but that most typical of the group, 

 is the Common Antelope, A. cervicapra. A native 

 of India, and celebrated for the religious superstition 

 in which it is held by the natives, being consecrated 

 to some of their deities, and alone permitted to be 



