ANTELOPES. 
3*3 
combed with cavities, as in the oxen; but the upper molar teeth differ entirely 
from those of the latter animals, having very narrow crowns, without any additional 
column on the inner side. 
The wildebeests, or, as they are ofteji called, gnus, are ungainly-looking 
creatures, distinguished by their broad and short heads, in which the muzzle is of 
great width, and fringed with long bristles, so that the nostrils are separated from 
one another by a considerable interval. The neck is furnished with an erect mane 
of stiff* hairs ; and the long tail is thickly haired throughout its length. The nearly 
smooth, cylindrical horns are situated on the highest point of the skull, and curve 
THE WHITE-TAILED WILDEBEEST (1 nat. size). 
outwards, or outwards and downwards, and then bend upwards near the tips. In 
the young wildebeest the horns are, however, straight and diverging, placed at 
some distance below the highest point of the skull, and separated from one another 
by a wide space at the base covered with hair. These straight horns persist as the 
tips of those of the adult, the curved basal portion of the latter being a subsequent 
development. In very aged bulls the two horns approximate at their bases, so as 
to form a helmet-shaped mass completely covering the part of the skull, as in 
the Cape buffalo. 
There are two well-marked species of wildebeest, confined to South and East 
Africa, both of which are represented in our illustrations. Of these the common, 
