OCR Text |
Show 196 MAMMALIA. small mane along the spine; a kind of .dewlap un~er the neckl the tail terminated by a tuft. It lives m troops m the moun· tains north of the Cape.(l) i. Horns bifurcated. ANTILOOAPRJE of Ord.-DrcRANOOERos of Ham. Smith. Of all the forms of hollow horns this is the most singular; a com· ressed fork is given off from their base or trunk, almost like the ~ine or antler of a Deer; the pointed tips curve backwards. The most known species is, /J, furcifera, Ham. Smith, Lin. Trans. XIII, pl. ii; the Cabril of the Canadians. It inhabits the vast prairies of the middle and western parts of North America, where it roams in large herds. Its size is about that of the Roebuck; hair thick, undulated and reddish; the tine of the horns is about the mid· die of the height.(2) k. Four horns.- TETRA CERA, Leach. This subdivision, lately discovered in India, was not unknown to the ancients. JElian speaks of it, XV, c. xiv, by the name of the Four-horned Oryx: the anterior pair are before the eyes, the posterior completely behind the frontal. .fl. chicarra, Hardw.; Lin. Trans. XIV, pl. xv; and F. Cuv. Mammif.(3) (The Tchicarra.) About the size of a Roebuck, and of an almost uniform fawn colour. The female has no horns, found in the forests ot' Hindostan.( 4) l. Two smooth horns. .fl. picta, and trago-camelus, Gm.; Buff. Supp. VI, pl. x and xi. (The N ylgau.) As large as a Stag or larger; the horns (1) Neal' the Canna should be placed the Guib, (.11. Bcripta) nuff. xu, pl. xl.-The Bosclt-Bock, (.fl. sylvatica) Buff. Supp. VI, xxv. . (2) The .fl. palmata, Smith, Ib. pl. iii, is only known to me by its horns, which have the antlers close to the base; perhaps they bad been cut off. Some authors have considered these Antelopes also as the Mazames of Hernandez. . (3) I should remark here, in relation to the observations at page 523, Lm. Trans. tom. XIV, that it was not the fault of the late M. du Vaucel, that the figure and description of the Tchicarra were attributed to him in the Hist. des :Maromif. His consignments were not always completa; a drawing frequently arrived without any description or explanation, and his premature de11th prevented him from sup· plying what was deficient in his memoirs. . (4) The A. 4-cornis, Blainv., is only known to me by a cranium, the anten~; horns of which are proportionally larger, Jour. de Phys. A out 1815. Perhaps 1 is merely a difference arising from age. RUMINANTIA. 197 short and bent forwards; a beard under the middle of the neck· hair greyish; double, black and white, strongly marked ring~ on all the feet just above the hoof. The female has no horns. This species is from India. .9.. rupicapra, L.; Buff. XII, pl. xvi; Ysard in the Pyrenees. (The Chamois.) The only ruminating animal in the west of Europe that can be compared with the Antelope, having however peculiar characters : its straight horns are bent suddenly backward like a hook ; behind each ear, under the skin, is a sac, whose only external opening is a small orifice.( I) Its size is that of a large Goat. The hair is of a deep brown, with a black band descending from the eye towards the muzzle. The swiftness of its course among rocks and precipices is wonderful, and it remains in small herds in the middle region of the highest mountains. M. Smith separates from the Antelopes, under the generic name of CATOBLEPAS, the .fl. gnu, Gm.; Buff. Supp. VI, pl. viii and ix:. (The Gr:10u.) A very singular being, which, at the first glance, seems to be a monster composed of parts of different animals. It has the body and croup of a small Horse, covered with brown hairs; the tail furnished with long white hairs, like that of the Horse, and on the neck a beautiful straight mane, the hairs of which are white at the base and black at the tip. The horns, approximated and enlarged at the base like those of the Cape Buffalo, descend outwardly, and turn up at the point; its muzzle is large, flat, and surrounded with a circle of projecting hairs ; under the throat nnd dewlap is another black mane; the feet have all the lightness of the Stag's. Horns in both sexes. Inhabits the mountains to. the north of the Cape, where it is rather rare, although the ancients appear to have had some knowledge of it.(2) The three remaining genera have the bony core of the horns principally occupied with cells, which communicate with the frontal sinuses. The direction of their horns furnishes the characters of the divisions. ~l) It was perhaps a mistaken idea respecting the indication of this orifice :htch led the ancients to say, that, according to Empedocles, Goats breathed rough the ears. vci2 ) Thi~. species most probably gave rise to the catoblepas. See Pliny, lib. I, cxxxu, and lElian, lib. VII, c. v. Sm~~e ~ost complete work on the subject of the Antelopes is that of M. Ham. b ~ ' Inserted in the work of Griffith, and I regret that the want of sufficient su ~ecq for observation have prevented me from giving all its details. |