The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
VI. HIPPOTRAGINÆ, comprising the Sable and Roan Antelopes and
the various species of Gemsbuck.
VII. TRAGELAPHINÆ, comprising the Nylghai, Bushbucks, Kudus, and
Elands.
SUBFAMILY I. _BUBALIDINÆ._
_General Characters._--Size large. Muzzle naked. A small
anteorbital gland[2] present. Nostrils large, valvular, the lower lids
covered with short bristly hairs. Tail long and tufted. False hoofs
large. No knee-brushes. Mammæ 2 or 4.
Skull without supraorbital pits or lachrymal vacuities, but with
shallow lachrymal pits. Upper molar teeth tall and very narrow.
Horns present in both sexes, those of the female merely rather more
slender than those of the male; always of medium length, that is,
approximately, of the length of the head.
_Range of Subfamily._ Whole of Africa, including the Arabian Subregion.
The Subfamily _Bubalidinæ_ is readily divisible into three genera,
as follows:--
1. BUBALIS, the true Hartebeests, with abnormally long faces and
doubly-curved horns;
2. DAMALISCUS, the Bonteboks and their allies, with normal faces
and simply-curved horns; and
3. CONNOCHÆTES, the Gnus: remarkable animals with tufted faces,
maned necks, expanded muzzles, and doubly-curved horns.
GENUS I. BUBALIS.
Type.
_Bubalis_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. Berl.
vi. p. 154 (1814) B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Alcelaphus_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75 B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Damalis_ (gen.) and _Acronotus_ (subgen.),
=H. Sm.= Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. pp. 343 & 345
(1827) B. BUSELAPHUS.
_Bubalus_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139 B. BUSELAPHUS.
Size large and general form clumsy, with the withers considerably
higher than the rump; head long and narrow; muzzle moist, naked, and
rather broad; nostrils close together, lined with stiff hairs; neck
not maned; suborbital glands small, tufted in some species, but not in
others; hoofs small; tail reaching below the hocks, moderately haired,
generally with a compressed crest along the dorsal surface of its
terminal half; mammæ two.
Colour uniform brown or rufous, with or without black patches on the
head, shoulders, hips, and feet.
Skull elongated; the frontal bones produced upwards and backwards into
a long bony support for the horns, the occiput being entirely hidden
in the upper view of the skull; parietals small, compressed behind
the frontal horn-pedicle, facing nearly horizontally backwards. Small
interorbital perforations present; lachrymal pits present but shallow.
Molars very tall and narrow, and without supplementary lobes in the
upper jaw.
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