THE BUMINANT ORDER. 
245 ' 
portraits and drawings of it were made, and the outbursts of 
curiosity and admiration for it were endless. This Giraffe from 
Sennaar passed a long and peaceful existence in the Jardin des 
Plantes, and died in 1845. 
Tribe of Hollow-horned Ruminants. — Ruminants with horns 
which are covered with an elastic sheath, something like aggluti- 
nated hair, may be divided into two groups. In the first, the 
bony nucleus of the frontal prolongations has neither pores nor 
cellules in texture ; whilst in the animals belonging to the second 
group, the nucleus is pierced with cellules which communicate 
with the frontal sinus. 
To the first group belong the Chamois, Gazelle, Saiga, Hyl-ghau, 
Gnu, and Bubale. To the second group belong the Common 
Goat, the Mouflon or Wild Sheep, the Sheep, and the Ox. 
Let us here consider the most remarkable species belonging to 
the first division. These all come under the natural and homo- 
geneous group formerly known by the name of Antelopes. It 
comprehends about a hundred species, which live, for the most 
part, in Africa. They are generally slender and lightly-made, 
fleet in running, of a gentle and timid disposition ; they are 
gregarious, and are particularly distinguishable by the different 
shapes of their horns. 
We shall cursorily glance at the most remarkable genera 
resulting from the division of the old general group of Ante- 
lopes. 
Chamois (Rupicapra ) . — The chief characteristic of the Chamois 
genus is constituted by the smooth horns which are placed 
immediately above the orbits. These horns are almost upright, 
with a backward tendency, and curved like a hook at the end. 
The horns exist in both sexes, and are nearly the same size in 
each. The Chamois has but two teats ; its tail is short, and it 
has no beard. 
The European Chamois (R. Tragus) is about the size of a small 
Goat. It is covered with two sorts of hair — one woolly, very 
abundant, and of a brownish colour ; the other silky, spare, and 
brittle. Its coat is dark brown in winter and fawn-colour in 
summer ; its fine and intelligent head is of a pale yellow, with 
a brown stripe down the muzzle and round the eyes. Its horns 
are black, small, short, smooth, and not quite rounded. 
