268 
UNGULATES. 
regions are the black-buck, four-horned antelope, and nilgai of India, the saiga of 
Tartary, and the chiru of Tibet. It was not, however, always so, since in early 
times antelopes of African types were distributed over a large portion of India and 
Southern Europe; and it is still one of the problems of zoology to account satis¬ 
factorily for the disappearance of these animals from the latter regions. The 
introduction of antelopes into Africa appears to have been comparatively recent; 
but having once made good their footing on that continent they multiplied, both 
as regards individuals and species, in a manner quite unparalleled in any other 
region, the total number of African antelopes exceeding ninety. Unfortunately, 
SKELETON OF THE ADDAX. 
this profusion and exuberance of ruminant life, which, but a few decades back, 
characterised the dark continent, is rapidly disappearing before the advance of 
civilisation. 
The eland belongs to a group of large and almost exclusively 
dctnci ^ ^ ® " 
African antelopes, characterised by the general absence of horns in 
the females, and by those of the male being devoid of rings, angulated in front, 
and usually spirally twisted. There is a small gland below the eye, the muzzle is 
naked, the tail long, and the upper molar teeth generally have short crowns. 
Eland are the largest of all antelopes, and differ from the other members of 
the group in having horns in both sexes; these being spirally twisted on their own 
axis and directed upwards and outwards. The horns have a sharp ridge both in 
