Order 8. 



RUMINANTIA. 



]29 



Fig. 62. — Prong-horned Antelope. 



Near it, we conceive, should be placed the Addax, tof^ether with the A. sylvatica, decula, scripta, and one 



or two others. The A. scripta, or Harnessed Antelope, is an 

 elegant small species, the Guib of Buffon, of a lively fulvous 

 colour, marked with harness-\\^& white stripes and spots. 

 The A. zebra has dark regular stripes across the crupper.] 



i. Horns bifurcated, {Antilocapra, Ord ; Dicranocerot, 

 Smith) 



Of all the forms of hollow horns, this is the most singular : 

 a compressed branch is given ofl' from their base or trunk, 

 almost like the antler of a Stag ; the pointed tips curve back- 

 ward. Tlie best known species is 



The Ca6n7of the Canadians {A. fiirdfera, H. Smith), which 

 inhabits the e.xtensive plains of the centre and west of North 

 America in vast herds : its size is nearly that of the Roe ; hair 

 thick, waved, and reddish ; the antler of its horns situate 

 near the middle of their height. [Nearly alhed is the A. pal- 

 mata, Smith, decidedly a distinct species, which has palmated 

 forked horns, that it employs in scooping away the snow : it is 

 a mountain animal, the range of which appears to be more southward than that of the other.] 

 h. Four horns {Tetraceros, Leach). 



This subdivision, recently discovered in India, was not unknown to the ancients. ^Elian speaks of it, xv. c. 14, 

 by the name of the Four-horned Oryx * : the anterior pair are before the eyes, the posterior completely behind the 

 frontal. [As the position of the horns varies in some groups of two-horned Antelopes, it may be that the anterior 

 pair of the four-horned species are represented in the greater number, and the posterior pair in the Bush Ante- 

 lopes (Philantomba).'\ 



The Tchicarra {A. chicarra, Hardw.). — Size of a Roe, and nearly unifonn fulvous : no horns in the female sex. 

 It is found in the forests of Hindostan. The A. qiiadricornis, Blainv., is only known to me by a cranium, the 

 anterior horns of which are proportionally larger ; perhaps it may only diiTer in age. 

 /. Two smooth horns. 



The Nylghau {A. picta, and trago-camelns, Gm.). — As large as a Stag, and larger : horns short, and recurved for- 

 ward, peculiar to the male sex ; a beard under tiie middle of the neck. Inhabits India. 



The Chamois (A. rupricaprathm.). — The only ruminant of western Europe that can be compared with the 

 Antelopes, but presenting peculiar characters. Its smooth horns are curved abruptly backward like a hook : behind 

 each ear, is a sac beneath the skin, which opens externally by a small orifice.f Its size is that of a lai'ge Goat. 

 Hair deep brown, with a black band descending from the eye towards the middle. This species traverses rocks and 

 precipices with extreme agility, inhabiting in small troops the middle region of the highest mountains. [The 

 A. thar, sumatroisis, ghorral, and other goat-like species, seem to be allied to this group and to that of 

 A. strepsiceros.1 



Col, 



Smith separates from the Antelopes, under the generic title of 



The Gnus (Catoblepas), — 



The Antilope gnu, Gm. ; a very extraordinary species, which, at first sight, seems to be a monstrous being, 

 compounded of parts of different animals. It has the body and crupper of a small Horse, covered with brown 

 hair ; the tail furnished with long white hairs, like that of a Horse ; and on the neck a beautiful tlowing mane, 

 white at base, and black at the tip of the hairs. Its horns, appro.ximated and enlarged at the base, like tho^e of 

 the Cape Buffalo, descend outwardly, and turn up at the point ; the muzzle is large, flat, and surrounded by a 

 circle of projecting hairs : under the throat and dewlap is another black mane ; and the legs are as slender 

 and light as those of a Stag. Both sexes have horns. 



This animal inhabits the mountains northward of the Cape ; where it does not appear common, although the, 

 ancients seem to have had some knowledge of it. [There are two other very distinct species, the Brindled Gnu 

 (C. gorgon), and the Taurine Gnu (C. taurina), both also from the interior of South Africa.] 



The three remaining genera have the bony core of the horns occupied, to a considerable 

 extent, with cells, that communicate with the frontal sinuses. The direction of their horns 

 characterizes the several divisions. 



The Goats {Capra, Lin.) — 

 Have the horns directed upwards and backwards : their chin is generally furnished with a long beard, 

 and the chanfrin almost always concave. 



* The fossil cranium Rnd some other bones of a gigantic foar-horned 

 ruminHiit. have lately been discovered hi the productive Sivolik 

 deposits of Northern India, the Sivatheriuiii, Caut, and I'alc , twice 

 the size of a large 0\, — Ku. 



t It was perhaps a miscomprehension ol the nature of litis aiicrlure, 

 which led the ancients to say, after Erapedoclcs, that Goats breathefl 

 through their ears. 



