80 RUMINANTS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



manner as we may trace a transition from the selenodont 

 teeth of the ruminants to the bunodont ones of the swine, 

 we may mark how the two-toed and cannon-boned 

 ruminants passed into swine-like animals with four toes 

 supported by as many separate metacarpal bones. 



Having now mentioned the leading characters of a 

 modern ruminant, as distinct from other mammals, we 

 may refer to a peculiarity, which, although by no means 

 characteristic of all, is a striking one, and one sharply 

 differentiating the group from all others. This is the 

 tendency to the development of appendages on the skull, 

 arranged in a pair at right angles to its longer axis, and 

 taking the form either of solid branching antlers, as in the 

 deer, or of hollow sheaths of horn covering bony cores 011 

 the skull, as in the oxen and antelopes. 



Passing to the consideration of the various kinds of cud- 

 chewing mammals, we find that the true ruminants, or 

 those with hoofs, no upper front teeth, and a camion-bone 

 in both limbs, arrange themselves in several minor groups. 

 The most important to man are the " hollow-horned 

 ruminants," such as oxen, sheep, goats, and antelopes, all 

 of which are characterized by the presence of horns, at 

 least in the males. The variety of form assumed by the 

 horns renders this group one of the most attractive of all 

 animals ; and we have but to recall the curved and smooth 

 horns of the oxen, the equally massive but wrinkled ones 

 of the wild sheep, those of the ibex with their knotted 

 points and scimitar-like backward sweep, the spear-like 

 form of those of the gemsbok, and the spiral twist of those 

 of the kudu and eland, to realize the variety of contour 

 assumed by these appendages. 



The oxen (including bison and buffaloes) are, with the 

 exception of the American bison, Old World types, and 

 were formerly abundant in Europe, where, however, they 

 are now only represented by the bison preserved in the 

 forests of Lithuania and the Caucasus, and by the half- 

 wild cattle of Chillingham and some other British parks, 

 which have been thought to be the direct descendants of 

 the British wild ox, or aurochs, of Caesar's time, but are 

 more probably derived from ancient domesticated breeds 



