150 MAMMALIAORDER VLUNGULATA. 



absent from the face ; and in such cases the underlying region of the skull is 

 fully ossified, while, when those glands are developed, the unossified space 

 in the skull below each eye is generally of less extent than in the Cervidtv. 



The first and least specialised 

 group of the family includes the 

 animals commonly known as 

 antelopes, which are arranged, 

 under a very large number of 

 genera, and pass imperceptibly 

 into the goats. Although no 

 definition can be given of an 

 antelope, as a rule these animals 

 have comparatively long necks, 

 and are of more or less light 

 and graceful build, while their 

 bony horn-cores are generally 

 solid throughout. By far the 

 great majority of antelopes in- 

 habit the open plains of Africa 



Fig. 84 BUBALINE ANTELOPE (Bubalis) south of the Sahara, but there 



are none in Madagascar, while 



Burma and the Malayan countries only possess a few forms, which may be 

 regarded as intermediate between the true antelopes and the goats. The 

 well-known hartebeests (Bubalis), so remarkable on account of their long, 

 solemn-looking faces, are the typical representatives of a section comprising 

 two genera, all of which, with the exception of one species of hartebeest, which 

 is Syrian, are confined to Africa, and mostly to the regions lying south of 

 the Sahara desert. All are of comparatively large dimensions, and generally 

 have the withers considerably taller than the rump. Horns of moderate 

 length are present in both zones, and are either lyre-shaped or recurved, 

 with their bases more or less closely approximated ; the muzzle is naked; 

 there is a small, tufted gland below each eye; and the tail is comparatively long. 

 In the skull there are no large pits in the forehead, nor any unossified spaces 

 below the eye-sockets ; and the upper molar teeth have very tall and narrow 

 crowns. The typical hartebeests, of which there are several species, ranging 

 from Syria and Algeria to the Cape, are characterised by the great height of the 

 withers, the great length of the head, which has the horns placed on a kind 

 of crest at its summit, and the sudden backward flexure of the extremities 

 of the horns. The horns themselves are compressed and ringed at the base; 

 the muzzle is narrow, and the tail hairy. In certain other species the above- 

 mentioned features are less strongly developed ; and in the blesbok 

 (B. albifrons) and bontebok (J5. pygargus) the horns are lyrate, the crest on 

 the top of the head much less strongly marked, and the withers lower. In 

 consequence of these differences many writers separate the latter animals 

 under the name of Damaliscus. The strange-looking wildebeests, or gnus 

 (Connochcetes), differ from the hartebeests by their shorter head and broad and 

 bristly muzzle, as well as by the heavily-maned neck, and in the conforma- 

 tion of the horns. The latter, which are situated on the vertex of the skull 

 and approximated at their bases, are nearly smooth and cylindrical, and curve 

 outwards, or outwards and downwards, with their tips bent upwards. The 

 hoofs are remarkable for their extreme narrowness, and the elongated 

 sweeping tail is clothed with a mass of long hairs. Whereas the females of 



