MAMMALIA. 13 



the genera, for all Goats have not erect horns, if any have, and 

 it is the same with the other genera; and we all know that 

 the Antelopes have tubular horns, in the sense that word is used 

 by Linnaeus, as much as the Oxen, Sheep and Goats ; but this 

 error of Gmelin has had its influence up to this time, for the 

 horns of Antelopes in Cuvier' s first and last edition of Le Regne 

 Animal are described as having ' the nucleus of the horn solid, 

 and without pores or sinuses, like the horns of the Stags/ 



" M. Geoffroy, perceiving that the characters furnished by Lin- 

 naeus were not sufficient to separate the Antelopes from the 

 other genera, examined the structure of the prominences of the 

 frontal bones which form the core or support of the horns of the 

 Antelopes, and he describes the core of the horns of the Ante- 

 lopes to be solid and without sinuses, while he characterizes the 

 cores of the horns of the Goats, Sheep and Oxen as in great part 

 occupied with cells which communicate with the frontal sinus, 

 and Cuvier, Latreille and most authors have without re-exami- 

 nation adopted these characters. 



" Some years ago I examined the cores of the horns of many 

 species of Antelopes for Colonel H. Smith, and found they were 

 all more or less cellular within, and these cells had a communi- 

 cation with the frontal sinus ; certainly the cells are not so nu- 

 merous as in the thick horns of some Oxen, but they are quite 

 as numerous for the thickness of the core ; but it is to be remem- 

 bered that the general character of the horns of Antelopes is to 

 be slender and elongated, and consequently there is not so much 

 room for cells, as their presence would destroy the strength of 

 the core, so as not to form a fit support for the horns ; and thus 

 this character is merely reduced to one dependent on the small 

 size or slenderness of the horns, which, though usual, is not uni- 

 versal in the genus, for example in the A. Oreas and others. 



" Colonel Smith, aware of this difficulty, divided these animals 

 into two families : Capridee, characterized by having the horns 

 ' vaginating upon an osseous nucleus totally or nearly solid,' 

 containing the genera Antilope, Capra, Ovis, and a new genus 

 which he called Damalis for the Antelopes with high withers ; 

 and second, the family Bovidce, with horns * vaginating upon a 

 bony nucleus not solid, but more or less porous and cellular,' 

 including the genera Catoblepas or Gnu, Ovibos or Musk Ox, 

 and Bos*. 



" This arrangement shows that much reliance is certainly not 

 to be placed on M. Geoffrey's character for the genus Antilope, 



* I may remark that Cuvier says that the genus Bos has a large naked 

 muffle, yet two species which he refers to it have a hairy muzzle like 

 the Sheep, viz. B. moschatus. 



