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Show 336 DR. J. M U R I E O N T H E [May 26, ters by Turner*, nothing heretofore has been published regarding its osteology and viscera. With these preliminary remarks I proceed to sum up the general conclusions arrived at by me, leaving the technical description of structures for after consideration. This method of arrangement, though contrary to the general custom, I have deemed preferable in tbe present instance. 2. DEDUCTIONS. The examination of the internal anatomy and osteology of the Prongbuck, although not revealing any passingly strange difference of structural organization from other Ruminantia, yet affords additional evidence to that already known of its exterior-namely, that it does not comport with all those characters considered specially to belong to the family of Antelopes. The distinctive attribute of Deer undoubtedly is the deciduous nature of their horns ; but in the hornless females this diagnostic is oftentimes absent, so that other parts of the organization must be brought to bear in forming a judgment of the creature's relations. The male and female Prongbuck both possess horns; and, as Bartlett and Canfield have proved, they are annually deciduous. Does this not collate it to the Deer according to the ordinary acceptation, and segregate it from the Antelopes, or, more widely speaking, from the Bovidae, Ruminants with persistent horns ? Were the systematic place and family relationship of the Prongbuck alone to be decided by the single feature of its horns being shed and renewed periodically, that it is a Deer would be unquestionable. Considered in a broader phase, by reference to the totality of its structures, the question, Is it a Deer ? can best be answered by the verdict, Not proven. If neither a strict bovine nor cervine form, it is needless to search for nearer affinities; for no other group singly possesses conformation nigher than the said families. The numerous modifications linking or interblending Antilocapra between the hollow- and solid-horned Ruminants, including the Giraffe, certainly stamp it with singularity. Few of the existing mammalian fauna more beautifully show and exemplify by a combination of characters how insensibly gradated are the groups which zoologists so strenuously separate, divide, and subdivide, as if a trifling cordon imposed a sufficient barrier of distinction on what doubtless is a natural series. M y estimable friend Mr. Bartlett judiciously recognized in the Prongbuck affiliation towards the Deer tribe in gait and exterior generally, besides noting that the coat equally pertained to that group as well as to sheep. The soundness of his judgment I have tested in the minute structure of the hair. Weighed in this scale, the balance preponderates in favour of the genus Ovis. In the disposition and possession or in the want of certain cutaneous gland-patches in the Prongbuck, a side light is shed on the * P. Z. S. 1850, p. 174, Dicranocerus. |