The Gemsbuck Group 381 



young ones shot were rather gray, much thicker, and far less hard and 

 sharp than those of the old one. They had no wrinkles at the base, but 

 the old one had some. They bend slightly inwards and forwards. The 

 females are hornless and the meat is quite good. I never saw any more 

 Deira - Vicomte Edmond de Poncins. 



THE GEMSBUCK GROUP 

 Genus Oryx 



A very distinct sub-family of large-sized antelopes, the Hippotragince, is 

 represented typically by the sable antelope and its allies, but also includes 

 the gemsbuck group and the addax. Both sexes are furnished with horns, 

 which are long, heavily ridged, situated over the eyes, and either spiral, 

 straight, or sabre-like in form ; those of the females being in some cases 

 longer than those of the bucks, although more slender. The muzzle is 

 hairy, face-glands are wanting, and the tail is comparatively long, and either 

 tufted at the tip or long-haired for the greater part of its length. From 

 those of all other antelopes the upper cheek-teeth are distinguished by 

 their tall and squared crowns, which are almost precisely similar to those 

 of the oxen. In the skull there are neither depressions for face-glands, 

 nor pits in the forehead, while the unossified spaces in the neighbourhood 

 of the nose-bones are minute. The sub-family is confined to Africa, 

 Arabia, Syria, and perhaps some of the adjacent countries. 



The leading features distinguishing the members of the gemsbuck 

 group from the other representatives of the sub-family are the straight or 

 sabre-shaped cylindrical horns, the long and more or less bushy tail, the 

 slight development of the mane on the neck, and the smooth or single- 

 tufted throat ; the horns either sloping continuously upwards almost in the 



