ZOOLOGICAL POSITION AND STRUCTURE 3 3 
undertaken by Professor E. Lonnberg, of Upsala, 
the results of which are published in vol. v., No. 10, 
of Arkiv for Zoologi. The ox and other cattle are 
characterised by the relative shortness of the large 
as compared with the small intestine, and the only 
ruminants in which Professor Lonnberg has been 
able to discover a similar relation are the gnus, in one 
species of which the length of the small intestine is 
only about one-fourth that of the long one. Such a 
resemblance may of course have been acquired 
independently ; but in view of other features it seems, 
in the opinion of Professor Lonnberg, more probable 
that it indicates the common ancestry of the two 
groups at no very distant date. If this be true, it 
opens up the question also as to the relationship 
existing between the antelopes of the oryx group 
with the gnus on the one hand and with cattle on 
the other. For it is a curious fact that while gnus 
have long and narrow upper molars, like those of 
sheep, the members of the oryx group are unique 
among antelopes in possessing squared and tall 
upper molars, with an additional inner column, very 
similar to those of the ox. How to explain these 
differences and resemblances is no easy matter. If, 
however, gnus be really near relatives of oxen, it 
would seem evident that the former branched off 
from the common stock before the latter acquired 
their present type of dentition. On the other hand, 
if the similarity of their molars is not a feature which 
has been independently acquired in two groups, the 
members of the oryx tribe ought to have diverged from 
the ox group at a later date than did the gnus, and 
yet their intestines and horns are totally unlike the 
bovine type. For the present, therefore, the exact 
3 
