XXV] ARTIODACTYLA 697 



and the ANTILOCAPRIDAE represented by the Prong-buck, Antilocapra 

 americana. The Giraffe is now confined to the Ethiopian region ; 

 it is a conspicuous inmate of zoological gardens, on account of its 

 extraordinarily long neck, in which however there are as usual only 

 seven vertebrae. The Giraffe has two short horns, unbranched and 

 covered throughout with soft fur and also the rudiment of a third 

 median horn in the form of a projection of the nasal bones. The 

 Okapi is a forest Giraffe with a comparatively short neck. In the 

 Prong-buck, which is found on the prairies of North America, the 

 horn bears a small lateral branch and is covered with a horny 

 sheath, and this sheath, but not the horn itself, is shed once a 

 year. 



FIG. 349. The Musk-Ox, Ovibos moschatus. 



In the family BOVIDAE is included everything from an Antelope 

 to an Ox, and, strange as it may appear, we have practically a 

 complete series of links filling up the gap between the graceful 

 light-limbed Gazelle and the thick-necked Buffalo, so that we cannot 

 say very precisely where Antelopes end and Oxen begin. The 

 Musk-ox, Ovibos moschatus (Fig. 349), which ranges over the 

 Arctic wastes of Canada in large herds, is intermediate in some 

 respects between the Sheep and the Goats on the one hand and 

 the Oxen on the other, but is more closely allied to the former 

 series. 



At present in Britain there are but two indigenous species of 

 Deer found wild, the Red- deer of Scotland, Cervus elaphus, and the 



