HIS PLACE. 63 



circular form. In this condition the game must soon succumb, 

 in consequence of the greater distance he has to run. 



HIS PLACE. 



The position in natural history which should be assigned our 

 antelope has already occupied the attention of zoologists. If 

 Pallas made it but a species of the antelope, later naturalists 

 have agreed to assign to it a separate classification, and have 

 adopted the name given it by Ord in 1818, Antilocapra Ameri- 

 cana, or American Goat-Antelope. Sir John Richai'dson says : 

 " The term A^nericana is objectionable as a specific name, where 

 more than one species of the same genus exists in that country." 

 Subsequent investigations have shown that this objection was 

 altogether without foundation, for there is but one species of the 

 genus. 



A careful study of specimens from every part of its range 

 shows that there are not even varieties of the species. All are as 

 near alike as possible. There is now no pretense for placing 

 Capra Americana with our animal, for it is well settled that it is 

 a true goat. 



Dr. Murie, to whom we are first indebted for the osteologlcal 

 description of this animal, seems inclined to go farther, and assign 

 it " a new or a fourth section among ruminants. In regard to 

 the second premise, its place, judging from the totality of struc- 

 ture (excluding the brain not examined), it appeal's to me that 

 the proposal to rank the Cabrit as a family per se {Antilocap)ridce), 

 merits attention. Notwithstanding what has been said of transi- 

 tional forms, the present career of biological inquiry has not yet 

 arrived at the stage when limited divisions can be dispensed 

 with, although lines of demarcation are broken apace. Provision- 

 ally, therefore, and for aught I can say to the contrary, the single 

 genus and species, Antilocapra Americana., may preside as the 

 type of a family. Still I am far from the opinion that it will 

 long remain in solitaiy grandeur, for I am convinced that its 

 more aberrant features are but bridges, the further connecting 

 end of which temporarily hazy to us, from our temporary, cir- 

 cumscribed view." 



I have already, in another place, quoted a passage from this 

 author bearing directly on this branch of our subject ; but, as 

 it will be remembered, it is hardly necessary to repeat it here. 

 The comparison he there makes between this animal and the 

 sheep, the giraffe, the deer, the goat, and the antelope, is for 



