J64 



JEOOSCERTDJE.- 



-MAMMALU 



-ANTILOPID.K. 



derived from the Mouflon (Ovis musimori), which is 

 found in Cyprus, Candia, Corsica, and Sardinia. How 

 far this affects the question of the specific identity of 

 such kinds as the Thibet sheep (0. ammori), Plate 18, 

 fig. 60, the Argali of Central Asia (0. argali), and the 

 Rock}' Mountain sheep (0. montanus), Plate 18, fig. 61, 

 of North America it is not easy to decide. From the 

 earliest ages of human history the sheep has been 

 employed in the service of man, affording him food 

 and materials of clothing, &c. Now-a-days they 

 supply us with meat, suet, leather, wool, tallow, and 

 manure ; the latter substance indirectly conferring 

 many other advantages, by proving a source of fertility 

 to various crops of grain and fodder. Among the 

 more interesting varieties we may particularize the 

 Fat-tailed sheep of Persia, Tartary, and China, whose 

 caudal appendage is transformed into a globular mass 

 of fat weighing as much as sixty or seventy pounds. 

 Another interesting form is the Ovis polyceratus, 

 inhabiting Nepaul ; the male being provided with four 

 horns. These last-mentioned organs attain an enor- 

 mous development in the Rocky Mountain sheep 

 Plate 18, fig. 61 each of them measuring nearly three 

 feet along their outer curvature, from base to apex. 

 In the catalogue of ovine ruminants preserved in the 

 British Museum upwards of thirty well-marked varieties 

 of sheep are indicated, and this enumeration does not 

 separately take into consideration the multitudinous 

 sub-varieties, or domesticated breeds, which are found 

 in the United Kingdom, and in various parts of Europe. 



THE WILD GOAT (Copra cegagras), or Paseng, is 

 believed to be the progenitor of our domestic goats, in 

 the same way that the Mouflon is supposed to be the 

 original stock of our sheep. The Paseng is a native 

 of the mountains of Persia and the Caucasus, and is 

 distinguished by its sharp horns, which attain a very 

 large size in the male. The varieties to which it is 

 believed to have given origin are exceedingly numer- 

 ous ; the various kinds differing not only in form, size, 

 and , colour, but also in the character of their hairy 

 covering, and in the number and disposition of their 

 horns. The Angora variety has beautiful long silky 

 hah- ; whilst the wool of the Thibetan goat supplies the 

 natives of India with material for the fabrication of 

 the celebrated cashmere shawls. The female, after a 

 period of five months' gestation, usually produces two 

 young at a birth. Though goats are chiefly valued 

 for their skins, the milk of the female, and especially 

 the flesh of the kids, are highly esteemed. The Rocky 

 Mountain goat (Capra Americana} is possibly a mere 

 variety of the common wild species. 



THE IBEX (Capra ibex], Plate 19, fig. 62, is a 

 native of the Swiss Alps, and probably of the moun- 

 tainous chains of Southern Europe generally. It is 

 provided with immense horns, which are arched back- 

 wards, and marked with prominent node-like rings 

 throughout their entire length. The Ibex or steinboc, 

 as it is sometimes called, is subject to great difference, 

 those examples found in the Caucasus and in Asia 

 being, in all likelihood, mere varieties, although they 

 are described by some as distinct species. The Ibex 

 is a very hardy animal, and is said to leap fearlessly 

 down rocky precipices, falling on its massive and par- 



tially elastic horns, which afford the necessary security 

 against injury. 



FAMILY III. ANTILOPID^E. 



By far the greater portion of the hollow-horned 

 ruminants belong to this family, in which the osseous 

 axis of the horns is solid, persistent, and destitute of 

 cavities or pores. A large number of the antelopes 

 possess lachrymal sinuses or tear-pits, in common with 

 the deer tribe. The horns have usually a more or less 

 conical form, cylindrical, sometimes compressed, annu- 

 lated at the base, and directed obliquely backwards. 

 These appendages are usually two in number, simple 

 and unbranched; but in some cases there are four 

 horns, as, for example, in the Jungliburka and Chou- 

 singha, whilst those of the Cabrit have an additional 

 prong. This may be considered as equivalent to the 

 brow antler of the deer, and clearly indicates an 

 approach towards the cervine type of ruminant. Most 

 of the antelopes are remarkable for their very graceful 

 and slender build ; the structure of their limbs being 

 beautifully adapted for rapid flight. They are widely 

 distributed throughout the eastern hemisphere, being 

 more particularly abundant in Africa, where vast herds 

 of them supply the natives with food, and too often 

 afford the European hunter an aimless pastime in 

 those cases where they are shot for mere sport only. 

 Like the generality of ruminants they are, for the most 

 part, gregarious in their habits. 



THE GNOO (Catolkpas gnu} Plate 19, fig. 63 is 

 a native of South Africa, and forms an aberrant type 

 between the bovine and the antilopine ruminants ; but 

 its more distinctive characters undoubtedly indicate a 

 closer alliance to the present family. The body is nine 

 and a half feet in length, and stands about four feet six 

 inches at the shoulder. The muzzle is large, bristly, 

 broad, and square-shaped, the nasal apertures being 

 operculated. The horns are broad at the base, where 

 they expand into a broad protecting plate on the fore- 

 head; from this point they are directed downwards and 

 slightly outwards over the eyes, and then making a 

 regular curve upwards terminating in a sharp hooked 

 extremity. The chin is furnished with a thick beard, 

 similar tufts of black hair being situated below the 

 eyes. A flowing whitish mane extends along the neck, 

 from the occiput backwards to a point beyond the 

 withers. The ears are comparatively small. The tail 

 resembles that of a horse, has a white colour, and 

 reaches to the ground. Between the fore-legs and 

 along the central line of the thorax, the brisket is 

 clothed with a thick shaggy development of black hair. 

 The general colour of the fur is that of an amber- 

 brown, passing into brownish-black. The limbs are 

 particularly slender, terminating in bluish-black hoofs, 

 which are pointed and compressed anteriorly. The 

 udder of the female is provided with four mammae. 

 The habits of the Gnoos are gregarious, and they are 

 exceedingly wild and swift of foot, following one 

 another in single file, and skimming the plains with 

 extraordinary velocity; they are extremely restless, 

 seldom remaining long at one spot, and migrating 

 from place to place in vast herds. Captain Harris, 



