162 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



obvious characters seem to lead them nearer to Bovina, the 

 last being Portax or Antilope Picta of authors. It is at this 

 point that we think the separation may be deemed arbi- 

 trary, because all the Damales might be viewed by some as 

 more properly included in the Bovine tribe ; but reflecting 

 that the Acronotine group in particular, recalls the high 

 shoulders of the Aigoceri, it seems that we find the cycloid 

 revolution of the characters which pass through the tribe, 

 while the next Catoblepas shews a predominancy towards 

 those which constitute true Bovina, in the head which ap- 

 proaches Bos Caffer through Ovibos and the feet to B. Bison, 

 where we terminate the order. 



Of this arrangement we dare only say, that it seems to 

 be the least objectionable in the present state of our know- 

 ledge on the subject ; awaiting the judgment of Zoologists, 

 whose opinions we hope to apply at no distant period 

 in an intended monograph, in which we shall be anxious 

 to produce figures of both the males and females of many 

 species never before published, and the anatomical frag- 

 ments of others, whose complete forms are still wanting in 

 the published works of authors : but although we have said 

 thus much to establish our motives for the present distri- 

 bution, we cannot but view the propriety of the innovations 

 with doubt and hesitation. 



Notwithstanding our assertion that no fossile remains of 

 the Caprine tribe, Antilope, Capra, Ovis, and Damalis, 

 have yet been satisfactorily determined, it appears that 

 Baron Cuvier regards several fragments, found in the os- 

 seous breccise of Italy and the Adriatic, as probably de- 

 rived from them. 



The Genus Antilope. 



This genus forms the head of the Caprine tribe, because 

 its subordinate groups display almost invariably cervine 

 proportions in the elegance of their conformation, and one 



