334 UNGULATA 
Family BovIDa. 
Frontal appendages, when present, in the form of non-deciduous 
horns. Molars frequently hypsodont. Usually only one orifice to 
the lachrymal canal, situated inside the rim of the orbit. Lachrymal 
bone almost always articulating with the nasal. Canines absent in 
both sexes. The lateral toes may be completely absent, but more 
often they are represented by the hoofs alone, supported sometimes 
by a very rudimentary skeleton, consisting of mere irregular 
nodules of bone. Distal ends of the lateral metapodials never 
present. Gall-bladder almost always present. The number of 
cotyledons in the placenta generally varies from 60 to 100; whereas 
in the Cervide the number is usually from 5 to 12, Capreolus and 
Hydropotes having the fewest. In Giraffu the number is upwards of 
180. The nature of the horns and horn-cores has been already 
explained ; in the majority of genera these appendages are present 
in both sexes, although much larger in the male (see p. 310). 
The Bovide, or hollow-horned Ruminants (Cavicornia), form a 
most extensive family, with members widely distributed through- 
out the Old World, with the exception of the Australian region ; 
but in America they are less numerous, and confined to the Arctic 
and northern temperate regions, no species being indigenous either 
to South or Central America. There is scarcely any natural and 
well-defined group in the whole class which presents greater 
difficulties of subdivision than this; consequently zoologists are as 
yet very little agreed as to the extent and boundaries of the genera 
into which it should be divided. For the present the genera 
provisionally adopted may be arranged under a number of sections 
or groups, which some writers regard as subfamilies. The series 
may be commenced with the Antelopes, the greater number of which 
are now characteristic of the Ethiopian region. 
Alcelaphine Section.—Includes large African Antelopes, of which 
the type genus ranges into Syria; generally characterised by their 
great height at the withers as compared with the rump. Skull with 
large frontal sinuses, extending into the horn-cores, and the horns lyre- 
shaped or recurved, and more or less approximated at the base. No 
large pits at apertures of supraorbital foramina in frontals; upper 
molars hypsodont and narrow. Horns in both sexes. General 
colour mostly uniform. 
Alcelaphus..lf Damalis be included, this genus is represented 
by some nine or ten living species. Head more or less long and 
narrow, with the muffle moderately broad and naked.  Nostrils 
approximated, edged with stiff hairs. Horns compressed and ringed 
at the base, more or less lyrate, and bent back at the tips. Hoofs 
small. Tail of moderate length, and heavy. Two mamme. 
? Blainville, Budd. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75. 
