334 UNGULATA 



Family BOVID^E. 



Frontal appendages, when present, in the form of non-deciduous 

 horns. Molars frequently hypsodont. Usually only one orifice to 

 the lachrymal canal, situated inside the rim of the orbit. Lachrymal 

 bone almost always articulating with the nasal. Canines absent in 

 both sexes. The lateral toes may be completely absent, but more 

 often they are represented by the hoofs alone, supported sometimes 

 by a very rudimentary skeleton, consisting of mere irregular 

 nodules of bone. Distal ends of the lateral metapodials never 

 present. Gall-bladder almost always present. The number of 

 cotyledons in the placenta generally varies from 60 to 100 ; whereas 

 in the Cervidce the number is usually from 5 to 12, Capreolus and 

 Hydropotes having the fewest. In Giraffa the number is upwards of 

 180. The nature of the horns and horn-cores has been already 

 explained ; in the majority of genera these appendages are present 

 in both sexes, although much larger in the male (see p. 310). 



The Bovidce, or hollow-horned Ruminants (Cavicornia), form a 

 most extensive family, with members widely distributed through- 

 out the Old World, with the exception of the Australian region ; 

 but in America they are less numerous, and confined to the Arctic 

 and northern temperate regions, no species being indigenous either 

 to South or Central America. There is scarcely any natural and 

 well-defined group in the whole class which presents greater 

 difficulties of subdivision than this ; consequently zoologists are as 

 yet very little agreed as to the extent and boundaries of the genera 

 into which it should be divided. For the present the genera 

 provisionally adopted may be arranged under a number of sections 

 or groups, which some writers regard as subfamilies. The series 

 may be commenced with the Antelopes, the greater number of which 

 are now characteristic of the Ethiopian region. 



Alcelaphine Section. Includes large African Antelopes, of which 

 the type genus ranges into Syria ; generally characterised by their 

 great height at the withers as compared with the rump. Skull with 

 large frontal sinuses, extending into the horn-cores, and the horns lyre- 

 shaped or recurved, and more or less approximated at the base. No 

 large pits at apertures of supraorbital foramina in frontals ; upper 

 molars hypsodont and narrow. Horns in both sexes. General 

 colour mostly uniform. 



Alcelaphus. 1 If Damalis be included, this genus is represented 

 by some nine or ten living species. Head more or less long and 

 narrow, with the muffle moderately broad and naked. Nostrils 

 approximated, edged with stiff hairs. Horns compressed and ringed 

 at the base, more or less lyrate, and bent back at the tips. Hoofs 

 small. Tail of moderate length, and heavy. Two mammae. 

 1 Blainville, Bull Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75. 



