CHAPTER XIII. 



THE HOLLOW- HORNED RUMINANTS: OXEN, BISON, 

 BUFFALOES, AND MUSK-OX. 



CATTLE, Deer, Camels, Pigs, Horses, Tapirs, Ehinoceroses, and Elephants differ greatly in 

 structure from the orders already described. They are classed as the Ungulates, or 

 Hoofed IMammals. In most of these, such as the Horse, Deer, and Oxen, the toes are 

 contained within a solid hoof; in others, such as the Rhinoceros, they are protected by broad 

 nails. Great differences exist in the feet of the various gi'oups of Ungulates, caused by the 

 degree in which the digits, or " toes," remain in use or not. Except in the Elephant, where 

 there are iive, the greatest number of "working" digits found in existing forms is four. In 

 the Horse and its surviving allies the digits are reduced to one ; in the Giraffes, to two. 



The general ju-ocess, as it can be learnt from the remains of the horse-like animals of the 

 past, seems to have been as follows. One or more of the toes were developed in length and 

 strength at the expense of the others, until, in the case of the Horse, only one toe remained, 

 which was enclosed in a large and solid hoof, little splints on either side of the cannon-bone 

 being left to hint where the second and fourth toes had once been. In the Oxen and Deer the 

 third and fourth toes developed equally, at the expense of the others, and each gained a case 

 or covering, which makes the two parts of the "cloven hoof" of these groups. 



The first group of the order of Ungulates is represented by the Hollow-horned Euminants. 

 These have horns set on a core of bone, the horns themselves being hollow throughout. They 

 "chew the cud," after receiving the food eaten into the first of four divisions in the stomach, 

 whence it is brought up into the mouth, and then swallowed again for digestion. The Oxen, 

 Sheep, and Goats have no popular name by which they are collectively distinguished, bat their 

 characteristics are sufficiently 

 well known. The horns are 

 never shed annually, as is the 

 case with the Deer ; and the 

 hoofs are cloven. They have 

 no incisor teeth in the upper 

 jaw, a characteristic also shared 

 by the Giraffes, the Prongbuck 

 (or American antelope), and the 

 Deer. The lower jaw has its 

 full complement of incisor teeth. 



The Oxen and the allied 

 Bison, Yak, and Buffaloes are 

 the bulkiest and most impor- 

 tant to man of all ruminants. 

 Some are found in nearly all 

 inhabited parts of the Old 

 World, and there is one North 

 American species, now practi- 

 cally exterminated as a wild 

 animal. 



[Ealing. 



1 N( I ISH PAKK-CATTLE. 



This photoRrapli represents two aniiniils of illfitrerit types. The bull (on the right) is from Earl 

 Ferrers' herd at Chartley Castle ; the cow is a cross-bred. 



207 



