62 Further Illustrations of the Antilope Hodgsonii. [Feb. 



slender analogy must be dropped : for, the Chiru has the graceful 

 proportions proper to the Cervine race of Ruminants, and is not inferior 

 in speed and elegance to the finest of the Antilopes, to which last inter- 

 mediate genus, half Cervine, half Caprine, he belongs. 



After a careful comparison of the indicative characters of Major H. 

 Smith's several groups of the Antilopidae, I am of opinion that the 

 Chini ought to be referred to the Gazelline group. As already men- 

 tioned, I am now satisfied that the species is gregarious, inhabits open 

 plains, and has no horns in the females. Whether either sex has 

 inguinal pores, and the females 4 or 2 mammae, are points still 

 undetermined. This Chiru must belong to one of the four following 

 groups of the able author just mentioned: The Orygine, the Redun- 

 cine, the Gazelline, or the Antilopine. By the want of the following 

 marks of the Orygine group, I presume it cannot be referred to that: 

 high shoulders ; large stature ; long ears ; a long tufted tail ; a mane ; 

 horns parallel to the face ; non-gregarions habits ; horned females. 

 With respect to the Reduncine division, the Chirii has none of the 

 subjoined characters of it. Horns short, rounded, annulated less than 

 half way up, and set on behind the orbits ; ears large and open ; fur 

 long and loose ; tail with the hair directed towards the sides ; shortish 

 thick limbs ; residence on rocky mountains, or under cover of reeds or 

 bushes ; non-gregarious habits. 



There remain only the Gazelline and Antilopine sections to choose 

 between; and the preference is perhaps due to the former, as having 

 more equivocal suborbital sinuses, and ovine nose. It must be con- 

 fessed, however, that the total absence of lachrymal sinuses, united to 

 an ovine nose, and horns turned forwards, in the Reduncine group, 

 afford strong grounds for referring the Chirii to it ; grounds which 

 would have decided me in favour of that group, had I not been in- 

 formed that such apparently permanent and immutable characters as 

 the two former, are nevertheless dependent on climate. 



Upon the whole, I refer the Chiru to the Gazelline group, chiefly 

 because it is very gregarious, dwells in open plains, and has limbs of 

 the finest mould. I would observe by the way, that these long 

 slender limbs terminating in hoofs, the posterior part of which is some- 

 what dilated and padded, offer strong presumptive proof of the truth 

 of the asserted residence of the species in open bare plains with a 

 sandy soil, such as all the plains of Tibet have. 



