GLEANINGS. 
ANTELOPES. 
The systematic arrangement of the Hollow-horned Ruminants (JBomid) has been one of the most difficult 
subjects for the student of Mammalia. Before I proceed to the arrangement proposed, it appears desirable 
that some examination should be given to those which have been in use. 
Linnaeus, in his last edition of the ' Systema Naturae ' (i. 27), divides them into three genera, according 
to the direction of the horns, which he describes as erect in Capra, reclinate in Ovis, and porrect in Bos, 
and separates these from Cerms, because they have tubular, while that genus has solid, branched and deci- 
duous horns. Gmelin in his edition adds to these the genus Ant'ilope, which had been established by 
Pallas, and characterizes that genus as having solid horns like the Cervi, but simple and persistent. Now 
I need scarcely observe that these characters will not define the genera, for all Goats have not erect horns, 
if any have, and it is the same with the other genera; and we all know that the Antelopes have tubular 
horns, in the sense that word is used by Linnaeus, as much as the Oxen, Sheep and Goats ; but this error 
of Gmelin has had its influence up to this time, for the horns of Antelopes in the first and last editions of 
Cuvier's 'Regne Animal' are described as having "the nucleus of the horn solid, and without pores or 
sinuses, like the horns of the Stags." 
M. GeofFroy, perceiving that the characters furnished by Linnaeus were not sufficient to separate the 
Antelopes from other genera, examined the structure of the prominences of the frontal bones which 
form the core or support of the horns of the Antelopes, and he describes the core of the horns of the 
Antelopes to be solid and without sinuses, while he characterizes the cores of the horns of the Goats, 
Sheep and Oxen as in great part occupied with cells which communicate with the frontal sinus, and 
Cuvier, Latreille and most authors have, without re-examination, adopted these characters. 
Some years ago I examined the cores of the horns of many species of Antelopes for Colonel H. Smith, 
and found they were all more or less cellular within, and these cells had a communication with the frontal 
B 
