22 EINAR LÖNNBERG, STUDIES ON KUMINANTS. 



Ill »Coiiiparative Morphologie» edited by Dr. H. C. L. Barkow (Greifswald 1875, 

 Erster Thiel, Tab. XIII) there are soine figures representing sections of the horn and core 

 of Oryx leucoryx. Althoiigh structural details cannot very well be recognised, it might 

 be nientioned here for comparison. As in the former species the core seeiiis to consist 

 of a tube of compacta Avhich, as a rule, is thicker on the anterior than on the posterior 

 side. There is also a large basal sinus bordered by compact walls, thicker anteriorly than 

 posteriorly, but laterally the thickness cannot be discerned. The interiör spongiosa seems 

 to be very coarse and traversed by very large caiials for bloodvessels. Partly the elements 

 of the spongiosa are longitudinally stretched, offering a more or less tubular aspect. To 

 judge from the dimensions of the figures it seems as if the core extended through 60 % 

 more or less of the length of the core, but the sheath is hollow further distally. The 

 liasal parts of the sheath are not reproduced. It is therefore uncertain how great its 

 thickness has been. The length of tliese horns is very great, and when their transversal 

 diameter is corapared with the longitudinal axis, they seem exceedingly slender. In a 

 specimen in Upsala Zoological Museum the basal diameter of the horn is not uiuch more 

 than 5 % of its length. They are however no doubt very elastic. With regard to the mode 

 in which they are used I think they might be compared with spears, thrust in the body 

 of the enemy. In this way they have not to stånd such a risk of being broken, as if they 

 were used for hooking movements or for the dealiiig of blows. Darwin 1'elates^) after a 

 communication from Bartlett, that these animals »kneel down, with their heads between 

 their forelegs», so that »in this attitude the horns stånd nearly parallel and close to the 

 ground, with the points directed forward and a little upward. The combatants then 

 gradually approach each other, and each endeavours to get the upturned points under 

 the body of the other; if one succeeds in doing this, he suddenly springs up, throwing 

 up his head at the same time, and can thus wound or perhaps even transfix his antagonist». 

 This is thus a kind of spearing from below. For such movements there is no special need 

 of strengthening the horn in one plane more than in the other. Oryx yazella uses also, 

 as may be gathered from Sir William Cornwallis Harris notes^) on this aniraal, its 

 horns with great dexterity as weapons. He states that the horns in the young animals 

 are »at first blunt and round at the tips» but they »are soon ground to a fine needle-like 

 point, by dint of raking and whetting them against rough-stemined trees — thus becoming 

 raost formidable weapons, whether of offence or defence». He adds further: »The horns 

 of the females are much longer and more bodkinish in appearance than those of the males, 

 who never meet during - the rutting season without desperate battles, their courage and 

 quarrelsoine disposition frequently rendering their duels fatal, one of the combatants often 

 being run släp through the body by a lunge from the long rapier-resembling weapons of 



his antagonist - — — — Strong, active and vigorous, the Genisbok boldly defends 



itself when pressed by the hunter, using its horns with amazing energy and address, by 

 striking right and left at its assailant with prodigious violence.» From these latter state- 

 ments it is evident, that the Gemsbok uses its horn differently from the Leucoryx as quoted 



1) »Sexual selection», »Law of battle». •'"•'' '"■■ '■' , >i--, i.,, i. M,y. . -ii . 



^) Conf. tbe quotations in the »Book of Autelopes» (SCLATER and Thomas). Part. XIV p. 61. 



