302 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



opposite tlie south of Arabia, but in the latter country, and in Persia, as far 

 as tlie Indies, being, in all its localities, the southern neighbor of the gazelle 

 and its varieties. The data are not complete enough for certainty ; but this 

 is probable, as the isotlieriiiul line does tend iu that direction ; and it is all, 

 partially at least, within the action of the rains. In former times it must, 

 from the extent of plain which has been converted into desert, have extended 

 nuicli farther, and it is not possible to suppose that any one acquainted with 

 Egyjit could have been ignorant of it. It is a gregarious animal, and an 

 inhabitant of the plains ; but it browses on the leaves of trees, ]irincipaily 

 those of the acacias, and not tiie saline {)lants, like the gazelle ; and, there- 

 fore, when, in its progress towards the desert, the country came to [iroduce 

 only gazelles' food, the abu-harb (tlie ori/.r) must have departed or perished. 

 As its general habits resemble those of the gazelle, it is higiily probable that 

 there are, as in that animal, many climatal varieties, and that what have 

 been sometimes described as ditl'erent species are the same. It nnist not be 

 forgotlen that, as the progress of cultivation has broken the domesticated 

 ruminantia of Europe into many varieties, the progress towards desolation 

 has done the same with the wild ruminantia of the districts under notice. 



This species is rather stout in the body. Its general color is white, vari- 

 ously marked with black on the forehead and brush in which the tail termi- 

 nates, with brown on the legs, and with rust-color between the brown and 

 white. The horns are long, slender, and very slightly bent from the curve 

 of the forehead throughout their length. This is the animal, the profile of 

 which, with the horns seen as one, is supposed to have suggested the notion 

 of the fublcd unicurn ; and the robust make, the long tail with a brush, the 

 mane, — though that is nuich exaggerated, — and all the characters of the 

 animal, give some probability to a conjecture which can neither be estab- 

 lished nor refuted. 



Tro(/rlaj)/ii(s Script lis. — The Harnessed Antelope. This animal is a 

 native of Africa, and was first discovered by ]Mr. Adamson in .Senegal. 

 It is a beautifid creature, about the size of the fallow-deer. The ground 

 color is bright fulvous-bav, di\ idcd by Innuitudinal and trans\crse lines of 

 white. The horns are black, and about seven inches long. 



liiipicapra Viih/un's. — The Chamois. There are two varieties of this 

 animal, one inhabiting the Ivussian Alps, and the otlicr the Eiu'opean. The 

 height of the latter is a little over two feet ; the color is a grayish-brown, with 

 a black streak extending through the eyes; the horns are black, round, and 

 hooked backwards at the tips. The chamois is gregarious ; the females 

 produce one or two kids early in the spring. They feed on the alpine pas- 

 tures, which give a richness and flavor to their tiesli ; and for this and the 

 skins the hunters scale the most perilous heights, and encounter frightful 



