Dr. J. E. Gray on the Pronghorn Buck. 323 



H. Theiidis, and H. Derbianus, but is easily distinguished from 

 them by the bright rusty red brown of the basal third of the 

 ears, the space about their base, the spot over the eye, and the 

 back of the hind legs, as well as by the greyish brown colour of 

 the neck and fore limbs. The proportional measurements are 

 also different. 



XLIII. — Notes on the Pronghorn Buck (Antilocapra), and its 

 Position in the System. By Dr. John Edward Gray, 

 F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 



In the * Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1855, when 

 describing a pair of horns in the collection of the late Earl of 

 Derby, I mentioned that the horn of the Prongbuck was " formed 

 of agglutinated hair, that it was lined internally with a close velvet- 

 like coat of short hairs, which were directed towards the top of the 

 cavity, and that the edge of the base of the horn was furnished 

 with a ring of hair." I observed that the " peculiarity in the 

 internal structure of the horns of the genus showed, like the 

 branched external form, a similarity to the horns of the deer, 

 the hairy horns being the analogue of the deciduous velvet of 

 the deer and the permanent hairy coat [on the horns] of the 

 giraflPe.^' 



1 . The peculiarity in the structure of the horn which isolates the 

 Cabrit or Prongbuck from the other hollow-horned Ruminants 

 seems to have been overlooked by the American naturalists; and 

 the spoils of the animal are very rare in European museums. 



The hunters of America stated that the Prongbuck shed its 

 horns; but the systematic zoologists, who depended on the ex- 

 amination of the preserved skin and head for their facts, did 

 not believe the assertion; and, indeed, some went so far as to 

 deny the fact. 



When the hunters at Fort Union said that the prong-horned 

 Antelope dropped its horns, Messrs. Audubon and Bachman 

 (Quad. North America, p. 198) considered it a sufficient reply 

 to show them that " the bony part of the horn and the hard 

 spongy membrane beneath were well attached to the skull and 

 perfectly immoveable." They evidently had the deciduous 

 horn of the deer in their mind, and could not conceive any 

 other manner of shedding the horns, not foreseeing that the 

 horny sheath might drop oflF the cores, which, if they had ex- 

 amined the structure of the horn and observed its internal fur, 

 they might have anticipated as probable. 



Cassin, in the * United States Exploring Expedition' (p. 63), 

 under Antilocapra americana, remarks, " Dr. Pickering, in his 



