164 ^GOSCERiD/E.' MAMMALIA. Astiloi'id.e, 
derived from the Mouflon (Ovis musinion), which is 
found in C 3 ^rus, Candia, Corsica, and Sardinia. How 
far this affects the question of the specific identity of 
such kinds as the Tlubet sheep (0. ammon), Plate 18, 
fig. 60, the Argali of Central Asia (0. argali), and the 
Rock}' Mountain sheep (0. montanus), Plate 18, fig. 61, 
of North America it is not easy to decide. From the 
earliest ages of human history the sheep has been 
employed in the service of man, affording him food 
and materials of clothing, &c. Now-a-days they 
supply us with meat, suet, leather, wool, tallow, and 
manure ; the latter substance indirectly conferring 
many other advantages, by proving a source of fertility 
to various crops of grain and fodder. Among the 
more interesting varieties we may particularize the 
kat-tailed sheep of Persia, Tartary, and China, whose 
caudal appendage is transformed into a globular mass 
of fat weighing as much as sixty or seventy pounds. 
Another interesting form is the Ovis polyceratm, 
inhabiting Nepaul ; the male being provided with four 
horns. These last-mentioned organs attain an enor- 
mous development in the Rocky Mountain sheep — 
Plate 18, fig. 61— each of them measuring nearly three 
feet along their outer curvature, from base to apex. 
In the catalogue of ovine ruminants preserved in the 
Britisli Museum upwards of thirty well-marked varieties 
of sheep are indicated, and this enumeration does not 
separately take into consideration the multitudinous 
sub-varieties, or domesticated breeds, which are found 
in the United Kingdom, and in various parts of Europe. 
THE WILD GOAT {Capra cegagrai), or Paseng, is 
believed to be the progenitor of our domestic goats, in 
the same way that the Mouflon is supposed to be the 
original stock of our sheep. The Paseng is a native 
of the mountains of Persia and the Caucasus, and is 
distinguished by its sharp horns, which attain a very 
large size in the male. The varieties to which it is 
believed to have given origin are exceedingly numer- 
ous ; the various kinds differing not only in form, size, 
and colour, but also in the character of their hairy 
covering, and in the number and disposition of their 
horns. The Angora variety has beautiful long silky 
hair ; whilst the wool of the Thibetan goat supplies the 
natives of India with material for the fabrication of 
tlie celebrated cashmere shawls. The female, after a 
period of five months’ gestation, usually produces two 
young at a birth. Though goats are chiefly valued 
for their skins, the milk of the female, and especially 
the flesh of the kids, are highly esteemed. The Rocky 
Mountain goat {Capra Americana) is possibly a mere 
variety of the common wild species. 
THE IBEX {Capra ibex), Plate 19, fig. 62, is a 
native of the Swiss Alps, and probably of the moun- 
tainous chains of Southern Europe generally. It is 
provided with immense horns, which are arched back- 
wards, and marked mth prominent node-like rings 
throughout their entire length. The Ibex or steinboc, 
as it is sometimes called, is subject to great difference, 
those examples found in the Caucasus and in Asia 
being, in all likelihood, mere varieties, although they 
are described by some as distinct species. The Ibex 
is a very hardy animal, and is said to leap fearlessly 
down rocky precipices, falling on its massive and par- 
tially elastic horns, which afford the necessary seemity 
against injury. 
Family III.— ANTILOPID^. 
By far the gi-eater portion of the hollow- homed 
ruminants belong to this family, in which the osseous 
axis of the horns is solid, persistent, and destitute of 
cavities or pores. A large number of the antelopes 
possess lachrymal sinuses or tear-pits, in common with 
the deer tribe. The horns have usually a more or less 
conical form, cylindrical, sometimes compressed, annu- 
lated at the base, and directed obliquely backwards. 
These appendages are usually two in number, simple 
and unbranched; but in some cases there are four 
horns, as, for example, in the Jungliburka and Chou- 
singha, whilst those of the Cabrit have an additional 
prong. This may be considered as equivalent to the 
brow antler of the deer, and clearly indicates an 
approach towards the cervine type of ruminant. Most 
of the antelopes are remarkable for their very graceful 
and slender build; the structure of their limbs being 
beautifully adapted for rapid flight. They are widely 
distributed throughout the eastern hemisphere, being 
more particularly abundant in Africa, where vast herds 
of them supply the natives with food, and too often 
afford the European hunter an aimless pastime — in 
those cases where they are shot for mere sport only. 
Like the generality of ruminants they are, for the most 
part, gregarious in their habits. 
THE GNOO {Catohlepas gmi) — Plate 19, fig. 63 — is 
a native of South Africa, and forms an aberrant type 
between the bovine and the antilopine ruminants ; but 
its more distinctive characters undoubtedly indicate a 
closer alliance to the present family. The body is nine 
and a half feet in length, and stands about four feet six 
inches at the shoulder. The muzzle is large, bristly, 
broad, and square-shaped, the nasal apertures being 
operculated. The horns are broad at the base, where 
they expand into a broad protecting plate on the fore- 
head ; from this point they are directed downwards and 
slightly outwards over the eyes, and then making a 
regular curve upwards terminating in a sharp hooked 
extremity. The chin is furnished with a thick beard, 
similar tufts of black hair being situated below' the 
eyes. A flowing whitish mane extends along the neck, 
from the occiput backwards to a point beyond the 
withers. The ears are comparatively small. The tail 
resembles that of a horse, has a white colour, and 
reaches to the ground. Between the fore-legs and 
along the central line of the thorax, the brisket is 
clothed with a tliick shaggy development of black hair. 
The general colour of the fur is that of an amber- 
brown, passing into brow'nish-black. The limbs are 
particularly slender, terminating in bluish-black hoofs, 
which are pointed and compressed anteriorly. The 
udder of the female is provided with four mammae. 
The habits of the Gnoos are gregarious, and they are 
exceedingly wild and swift of foot, following one 
another in single file, and skimming the plains with 
extraordinary velocity^ they are extremely restless, 
seldom remaining long at one spot, and migrating 
from place to place in vast herds. Captain Harris, 
