HOLLOW- HORNED RUMLNANTS. 



157 



sented in the Arctic regions only by the reindeer and the musk-ox, Ungulates are 

 found alike in the coldest and the hottest regions of the globe. The maximum 

 number of peculiar forms, as well as those of greatest corporeal bulk, are, however, 

 inhabitants of the tropical and subtropical regions ; and it is also in the warmer 

 regions that the greatest number of species occur. As regards the number of 

 individuals of particular species, many Ungulates far exceed any other of the 

 larger mammals; this being especially the case with the bisons, that but a few 

 years ago roamed in countless thousands over the prairies of North America, and 

 with the myriad hosts of springboks in the South African veldt. Through the 

 advance of civilisation and the incessant persecution of both the sportsman and 

 the trader, these wonderful instances of the profusion of animal life have, however, 

 been swept away for ever. 



Not only are the Ungulates widely distributed in longitude and latitude, but 

 thev are also found at all elevations suitable for the existence of animal life; some 

 of the wild sheep of the Himalaya ranging to elevations of fully twenty thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. In time the order is an ancient one, being represented 

 in the earliest stages of the Eocene division of the Tertiary period, although 

 the species were mostly small, and in all cases widely different from any now 

 living. 



The Hollow-Horned Ruminants. 



Family BoFID^E. 



Unfortunately we have no concise English term to designate collectively the 

 animals commonly known as oxen, sheep, goats, and antelopes, and we are hence 

 compelled to allude to them by the periphrasis of the hollow-horned Ruminants, 

 unless we prefer to call them by their scientific title, Bovidce. This is the more to 

 be regretted, since the term hollow-horned Ruminants will likewise include the 

 American prongbuck, which is the representative of a family by itself. 



Taking, then, the term hollow-horned Ruminants, for want of a better, to 

 designate the animals mentioned above, we have in this family our first representa- 

 tive of the Ungulate order. But before entering into the consideration of the 

 especial characteristics of this family, it is necessary to point out those distinctive 

 of the great group of even-toed Ungulates, under which title are included not only 

 the hollow-horned Ruminants, but likewise deer, camels, swine, and many other 

 living and extinct types. 



Even-Toed It has been already mentioned that the even-toed Ungulates (or 



Ungulates. Artiodactyles, as they are technically termed), are distinguished by 

 the third and fourth toes being almost equally developed, and arranged symmetri- 

 cally on either side of a vertical line drawn between them ; this line being con- 

 tinued upwards to the wrist or ankle, and the metacarpal and metatarsal bones 

 similarly arranged in respect to it. As a consequence of this it results that in the 

 typical members of the group the hoofs are of the so-called " cloven " type. This 

 character is alone sufficient to distinguish all the members of the group ; but there 

 are a few others which it is advisable to mention. One of these characters is 

 afforded by the cheek-teeth, in which the molars are almost always more complex 



