114 MAMMALIA. 



to divide them into genera from characters of but little importance, 

 drawn from the form of their horns and the proportions of their 

 different parts. To these M. Geoffroy has advantageously added 

 those afforded by the substance of the frontal prominence or the 

 bony nucleus of the horn. 



ANTILOPE. 



The substance of the bony nucleus of the horns of the Antelopes is solid, 

 and without pores or sinus, like the antlers of the Stag 1 . They resemble 

 the Stags moreover in the lightness of their figure and their swiftness. It 

 is a very numerous genus, which naturalists have divided, and principally 

 according to the form of the horns. 



The most remarkable species are the Gazelle, Springbock, Plunging An- 

 telope, Rock- Springer, Jllgazel, Chamois, Gnou, &c. 



The three remaining genera have the bony core of the horns 

 principally occupied with cells, which communicate with the frontal 

 sinuses. The direction of their horns furnishes the characters of 

 the divisions. 



CAPRA, Lin. 



The horns of the Goats are directed upwards and backwards; the chin gene- 

 rally furnished with a long beard, and the chanfrin almost always concave. 



C. segragus, Gm. (The Wild Goat.) Appears to be the stock of all the 

 varieties of our Domestic Goat. It is distinguished by its horns, trenchant 

 in front, very large in the male; short, or altogether wanting in the female, 

 which is also sometimes the case in the two species of Ibex. It lives in herds 

 on the mountains of Persia (where it is known by the name of paseng], and 

 perhaps on those of other countries, even in the Alps. The oriental bezoar 

 is a concretion found in its intestines. 



C. ibex, L. (The Ibex.) Large horns, square in front, marked with 

 transverse and prominent knots. It inhabits the most elevated summits of 

 the highest ranges of mountains in the whole of the eastern continent. 



Ovis, Lin. 



The horns of Sheep are directed backwards, and then incline spirally, more 

 or less forwards: the chanfrin is more or less convex, and there is no beard. 



Ov. ammon, L. (The Argali of Siberia.) The male has very large horns, 

 with the base triangular, angles rounded, flattened in front, and striated 

 transversely; those of the female are compressed and falciform. To this 

 genus belong the Mouflons of America, Africa and Sardinia. This animal 

 inhabits the mountains of all Asia, and attains to the size of the Fallow Deer 



It is from the Mouflon or the Argali that we are supposed to derive the 

 innumerable races of our woolly animals, which, next to the Dog, are most 

 subject to vary. 



