ORDER RUMINANTIA. 363 



of horns ; of Antilope they retain only the deep suborbital 

 sinus, and some portion of their manners. 



The Neelghau. (Z>. Risia.) Of the large ruminants 

 usually placed with Antilope, the Neelghau, or A. Picta of 

 authors, is the only Indian species which unquestionably 

 required to be transposed. We propose to reject the name 

 of Picta, which Pallas adopted from Mr. Pennant's cha- 

 racter of White-footed Antelope, a character by no means 

 constant, and substitute the name Risia, from the Sanscrit 

 Ris'ya, or Rishya, because it is derived from the Hindee 

 Rojh *, the animal being designated by that word in the 

 Amera Cosha, and in the Indian Sacred Volume, chap. xxiv. 

 ver. 27, where three Rishyas are directed to be conse- 

 crated to the deities, named Vasus. The Neelghau in 

 common with the rest of this genus, is never regarded by 

 the natives as in the least allied to Antilope. Its name im- 

 ports Blue-Ox, in the Persian dialect used in India. In 

 stature this species measures at the shoulder about four 

 feet four inches, and at the croup four feet ; the legs are 

 not disproportionably long, but the anterior part of the 

 body is very deep ; when standing, the hind-feet and croup 

 are generally gathered up, or drawn in. The head is long 

 and pointed ; the forehead arched, with the horns rising at 

 the sides of the frontals, far asunder, sub-triangular, thick 

 at the base, a sort of blunt ridge passing downward upon 

 the forehead ; the rest rounded, a little elevated above the 

 plane of the face, bending slightly forwards and outwards, 

 black, smooth, and about seven inches long; the lachry- 

 mary sinus is considerable ; the eyes full and dark ; the 

 nose enclosed in a square and black muzzle ; the incisors 

 small at the sides, the middlemost long ; the ears seven 

 inches long, very broad, white inside and marked with two 

 black streaks ; the neck rather long, maned with black 



* Rojh. Raksh? Lightning; may bs a figurative expression for 

 the velocity of its attack. 



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