3C-6 MAMMALIA. PECORA. Antelope, 



XXXVII. A N T E L O P E.— 36. AN TIL OPE. 



Has perfiftent horns, which are hollow, and filled with a flint 

 or fpongey bone; they are moltly round and erected, and 

 are frequently twilled fpirally, or furrounded with rings. 

 The lower jaw has eight broad fore-teeth; the upper jaw 

 none; and there are no tulles in either. 



To this character Mr Pennant adds, that "the limbs are light and elegantly made ; and that the in- 

 fides of the ears are marked with three longitudinal feathered lines of hair. None of the numerous 

 fpecies of this genus are found in America ; they are moftly confined to Alia and Africa, inhabiting 

 the hotteft regions of the old world, or the temperate zones near the Tropics, only two fpecies being' 

 found in Europe, the Chamois and Saiga. They chiefly inhabit hilly countries, though fome refide 

 in the plains ; and fome fpecies form herds of two or three thoufands, while others keep in fmall 

 troops of only five or fix together. They often clamber up rocks, and brouze like Goats, and fre- 

 quently feed on tender flioots of trees. They are very elegantly made, aiftive, reftlefs, timid, fhy, and 

 aftonifhingly fwift, running with vaft bounds, and fpringing or leaping with furprifing elafticity; fre- 

 quently ftop for a moment to gaze at their purfuers, and then refume their flight. The Antelope 

 forms an intermediate genus between the Deer and Goat, though arranged with the latter by Lin- 

 naeus, in his former editions, and by feveral other naturalifts; but Dr Gmelin, in imitation of Pen- 

 nant, Erxleben, and Pallas, has formed them with great propriety into a diftinct genus. In the form 

 of their bodies they agree with Deer, and in the circumftances of their horns they refemble the Goats; 

 they have all gall-bladders ; diftinct lachrymal gutters, or pits, under the eyes ; a plait of the fkin di- 

 vided into feveral cells in the groins ; brufhes of hair on the knees ; and beautiful black eyes. In ge- 

 neral their fiefh is excellent, though fome fpecies have a rank hircine, or mufky flavour. 



5yy i. Blue Antelope.— i. Jlniilopc kucophaea. r. 



Of a bluifli colour; the horns are roundifh, annulated *, and bent backwards in an arch. 

 Schreber, v. t. eclxxxviii. Pall. mifc. zool. 4. Spic. zool. i. 6. and xii. 1 2. 



Bkuer Bock. Kolben, 141.— Blue Antilope. Penn. hift. of quad. n. 18. fig. p. 92.— Blue Goat. 

 Kolben's Cape, Eng. ed. ii. 1 14.— Bouc-chamois. Journal Hift. 58. and fig, Br. Muf. Lev. Muf. 



Inhabits the country to the north of the Cape of Good Hope.— This fpecies is larger than a Fal- 

 low Deer; when alive the fur is of a fine blue colour, and velvet-like appearance, but when dead 

 it changes to a bluifli grey with a mixture of white ; the under parts of the body are white, and 

 there is a white blotch under each eye, and on the fore part of each foot ; the ears are fharp point- 

 ed, and above nine inches long ; the horns are arched, bending backwards, and marked with twenty 

 prominent rings, but become fmoofh, taper, and fharp at the ends ; the hair on the fur is long ; the 



tail 



* The word annuiated is employed ia the definition, for fhortnefs, to fignify that the horns are fur- 

 rounded by prominent rings. — T. 



