SAIGA — WILD BOAR — ALA GDA GA 



8? 



and curving sometimes downward and sometimes outwards. Moreover the horns 

 are three-cornered at the base, and provided with more or less distinct knots on 

 the front surface. In the central Caucasus occur certain tur which have much the 

 appearance of hybrids between the two preceding species, although they have 

 been regarded as indicating a third species. 



While the deer occur only on one border of the Caspian 

 area, the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), although not strictly 

 confined to it, is one of its characteristic mammals. This antelope, which is 

 about the size of a sheep, is one of the ugliest of the group, on account of the 

 peculiar shape of its head and its clumsy body. It has a large, strongly curved, 

 inflated nose, blunt at the extremity, with large nostrils directed downwards, and 

 yellow, lyrate horns of which the length is usually under 12 inches. In summer the 



Saiga. 





SAIGA ANTELOPES. 



coat is tawny and in winter whitish grey, the under-parts and lower surface of the 

 tail being always white. In prehistoric times the distributional area of the saiga 

 extended as far as the south-east of England, and the animal lived on the eastern 

 boundaries of Poland only a hundred years ago. At the present day it is restricted 

 to southern Russia, south-western Siberia, and above all the Kirghiz steppes. 



The wild boar of Hungary and the Caspian area, on account of 

 wild Boar. .^ h ^ & g .^ ^ ^^ described as a distinct species under the name 



of Sits attila, but as it is better regarded as a race of the typical wild boar, it may 



be called S. scrofa attila. 



A characteristic rodent of the Caspian area is the large five-toed 



Aiagdaga. j erboa known as the a lagdaga (Alactaga decuman a), the best-known 



representative of its genus, which ranges from the Caspian through southern 



Russia as far as the Crimea, and over the deserts and steppes of central Asia as far 



