308 ANTELOPES AND OXEN 



of zoological significance. ^Vs a rule there are horns in both sexes ; 

 but this rule is not without exceptions, of which one is the genus 

 Strepsiceros, the Koodoo. Many other Bovidae are horned in 

 the males only, e.g. Hniga, Tragelaplms. The Antelopes further 

 differ from the true Oxen in their more graceful build, and 

 in the fact that the horns, if they curve at all, generally curve 

 backwards towards the neck. In the Oxen, on the other hand, 

 the build is stouter, and the horns usually curve outwards. The 

 same remarks apply to the Sheep. Such an Antelope, however, 

 as the Eland (Orias) is very Ox-like in habit. Another feature 

 which may be remarked upon, though not of absolute differential 

 value, is that while the Antelopes are as a rule smooth and sleek 

 in their skins, the Oxen tend to be rough and shaggy. The Zebu, 

 however, in this, in its hump, and in general aspect, is far from 

 being unlike an Eland. But then the Zebu is a domestic race, and 

 we do not know what the wild stock was like. It is perhaps with 

 the Goats that the Antelopes have the nearest affinities, and it is 

 difficult to place such a form as NciiiorrliiinJiis, and indeed some 

 others. In the Antelopes as a rule the middle lower incisors are 

 larger than the lateral ones ; in the Sheep and Goats they are alike 

 in size. The parietal bones, too, in the Antelopes are moderately 

 large and are much shortened in the remaining Cavicornia, especi- 

 ally in the Oxen. As the Antelopes are the oldest, so far as we 

 know, of all Ijovine animals, one would expect to find them com- 

 bining the characters of the rest. But they do this so efl'ectually 

 that a disentanglement is really impossible. They date from the 

 ^Miocene. Antelopes are now limited to Europe, Asia, and ^Vfrica ; 

 they have always had the same range, though more abundant in 

 former times in Europe. They preponderate now in tropical 

 Africa, and abound in genera and species. Messrs. Sclater and 

 Thomas ^ allow altogether thirty-five genera, of which twenty-four 

 are exclusively Ethiopian in range. 



In the following summary of the group Messrs. Sclater and 

 Thomas's work is followed. They commence with a section or 

 sub-family of which the type is the Hartebeest. 



Buhalis, or AlcelapJitts as it is sometimes called, is an African 

 genus, ranging however into Arabia. These Antelopes are 

 characterised by the long skull and the doubly - curved horns. 

 There are eight species of the genus, of which B. caama is the 



' The Book of Antelopes, London, Porter, 1894-1900. 



