226 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



theless, extant, that it is very open outwards, other in- 

 stances of the same structure having been detected. In 

 proof of the almost nonage of the subject, there were only 

 five molars in each of the upper maxillae, the last narrower 

 than the third or fourth, and all the sutures were very 

 distinct. 



The Saiga. (A. Colus.) The name Saiga, which ap- 

 pears to be a Sclavonic pronounciation of the Teutonic 

 Zeiga, or great, is applied to an animal truly Antilopine ; 

 and although it be found in Europe, is one of the most rare 

 in cabinets of natural history. There are specimens, we 

 believe, in the cabinets of Petersburgh and Vienna, but 

 no other, that we know of, can shew more than the horns. 

 The male has been figured by Pallas, and it is to be re- 

 gretted that he did not likewise publish another of the 

 female. Of all the Antelopes, none, if we except the Cha- 

 mois, has been described so early as the Saiga. Strabo, in 

 his Geo o-raph. L. vii., clearly noticed it under the name of 

 KoKos ; Gesner and Johnston likewise described the Colus; 

 but Pallas, to whom we are indebted for a complete account 

 of the species, preferred to latinize the vulgar name, and 

 was followed, in this respect, by all the more modern 

 writers *, 



The horns of the Saiga assume an intermediate form be- 

 tween the lyrate of the Dorcas, and the spiral of the Com- 

 mon Antelope ; they are distant at base, about ten inches 

 long, round, erect, wavy, in three curves, perfectly annu- 



* We. think the animal's having a proper and classical name, 

 used by Strabo and Gesner, a sufficient apology for not following 

 the denomination of Pallas ; there are, nevertheless, other reasons ; 

 Saiga is the Russian name of the female only. Saiga is Tartaric 

 for the Wild Ox; and in the many dialects of Eastern Asia is the 

 most vague of all those bestowed upon ruminants. The Polish 

 name Sulok is, no doubt, the ancient Sclavonic term, from whence 

 the Greek Kolus, which presents the letters reversed, is derived. 



