

BOVID^E 345 



Addax. 1 Horns Avith the same inclination as in Oryx, but with 

 a slight spiral twist. No mane on nape, but a slight one on the 

 throat. Hoofs rounded. One species (A. nasomaculatus), from North 

 Africa and Arabia, the colour of which is nearly white. 



Tragelaphine Section. Includes large, so-called Bovine, Ante- 

 lopes now mainly characteristic of the Ethiopian region, but with 

 one Oriental genus. Horns usually present in the male only (if 

 developed in the female smaller), with a more or less distinct ridge 

 in front, and usually twisted spirally, the front ridge twisting 

 outwards from the base of the horn. Skull without lachrymal 

 fossa, but with a large or small lachrymal fissure ; usually large 

 pits at the apertures of the supraorbital foramina on the frontals ; 

 premaxillse reaching nasals. Muffle large and moist ; nostrils 

 approximated. Molars hypsodont or brachydont. Vertical white 

 stripes frequently present on the body. 



a. Hind limbs much shorter than tliefore. Horns behind the orbit, 



short, conical, faintly angulated. Nose bovine. Body without 

 vertical stripes. Molars (Fig. 123, p. 311) hypsodont, with 

 a large accessory column in those of the upper jaw. One 

 Oriental genus. 



Boselaphus. z The one genus of this subsection is represented 

 only by the well-known Nilghai (B. tragocamelus) of India. The 

 male stands over 4 feet in height at the shoulder, with horns 

 about 8 inches in length ; the hornless female being about one 

 third smaller. Both sexes have a short erect mane, and the male 

 has also a tuft of hair upon the throat. When adult the sexes 

 are very different in colour, the male being of a dark iron gray 

 or slate colour, approaching black on the head and legs, while 

 the female and young are of a bright light brown or fawn colour. 

 In both male and female at all ages the lips, chin, and under parts, 

 as well as two transverse stripes on the inner sides of the ears and 

 rings on the fetlocks, are white, and the mane and tip of the tail 

 black. The Nilghai is one of the few Antelopes occurring in India, 

 where it is found from near the foot of the Himalaya to the south 

 of Mysore, though rare to the north of the Ganges and also in the 

 extreme south. It is most abundant in Central India, and does not 

 occur in Assam or the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal. 

 It frequents forests and low jungles, though often found in toler- 

 ably open plains, associating in small herds. One, or very often 

 two, young produced at a birth. Fossil remains of species of this 

 genus occur in the Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits of India. 



b. Fore and hind limbs equal. Horns long, and spirally twisted. 



Nose cervine, and aperture of suborbital gland very small. 



1 Rafinesque, Anal. Nat. 1815, p. 56. 



2 De Blainville, Bull. Soc. Phil&m. 1816, p. 75. Syn. Portax, Hamilton- 

 Smith. 



