502 DR. J. MURIE ON SAIGA TARTARICA. [June 9, 
culiarly its own, it, at the same time, as the comparison already 
entered into has shown, deviates in several characteristics from the 
genus Gazella, as indeed it does from all modern Antilopide. Still 
though endowed with a basis of Ovine construction, it sheers off from 
this group and engrafts itself with the Antelopes. Over and above 
it reverts to those strange ancient Deer-like forms of the Tertiary 
epoch, though isolated from the recent Cerfs, not excepting the ab- 
normal-nosed Elk. 
The vertebral column is neither strictly that of an Antelope or 
Sheep, but a mixture of both, with a specialized atloid transverse 
process. The pelvic arch in the male is nearest allied to that of the 
Ram, the scapula to the Antelope’s. In relative lengths of the limb- 
bones the fore extremities range with Ovis, the hind legs with Cervus ; 
but in fineness of symmetry they have more a Gazelle aspect. 
Skeletally there are shades and grades of various groups of Bo- 
vide intermixed, truly one of Parker’s “generalized forms,” so in- 
terblending by structural ties of families otherwise removed, that 
old taxonomic lines of demarcation are resistlessly swept away. 
All the habits of Saiga are consistent with those of a Feral Ovis. 
As to the fleece, taken in all its bearings, it does not belong to the 
Gazelle group nor Antelope proper, but essentially is a slightly 
modified species of Sheep’s wool. I should say of the interdigital 
sacs, crumen, and knee-patches, that they, in this case, hardly afford 
satisfactory grounds to base affinity upon. The remarkable internal 
nasal or maxillary sinus, besides the nasal enlargement, nevertheless 
leads on apace to Pachyderms, where, as in the Tapir, such maxil- 
lary sacs, elongate cartilages, and modified proboscides obtain. The 
fact that there is abundant fatty deposition, in the fleshy structures 
outside the body as well as viscerally, and in the scrotum, is in 
favour of Ovine affinities ; in most Antelopes, and universally among 
Goats, fat is developed meagrely on the body and omentum, being 
chiefly found ex masse surrounding the kidneys. 
The relatively elongate heart is that of an Antelope or Deer; and 
the intestinal length conforms with these rather than Sheep. 
The final result of all the evidence which can be gathered from the 
anatomy of the singular Saiga tar¢arica leaves still doubts regarding 
the creature’s place in any one of the present groups of the Bovide. 
It cannot be said to be purely an Antelope, though in many particulars 
it announces alliance with the genus Gazel/a, among which, how- 
ever, I must reject its admission. To the Sheep tribe it is even 
more related in a variety of characters ; yet must it be excluded from 
either of Gray’s Ovine genera (Cat. B. M. p. 160) Ovis, Caprovis, 
Pseudovis, and Ammotragus. Betwixt the above subfamilies or 
subtribes the Saiga appears to hover, masking under an Antilopine 
aspect much that belongs to Ovine race. Again relations of no mean 
kind, whether in a physiological or anatomical point of view, link it 
with the ancient quadricorn Siva and Titanotheres. 
The non-position, so to speak, of the Saiga among present groups 
having been established, the difficult task of assigning a location and 
defining systematic characters for it remains; and here the proposi- 
