general nature, are forked and periodically shed from the underlying
persistent bony cores.
This being so, and as only two sections of the family are treated of
in the present volume, it would be superfluous to enter into the consideration
of all the structural peculiarities of the Bovidat as a whole. The
following points may, however, be noticed. In the first place, no members
of the family, either living or extinct, possess upper canine teeth, or tusks,
which are frequently so strongly developed in the Deer tribe (especially
when antlers are wanting) ; and in this respect the Hollow-horned are
clearly more specialised than the Antlered Ruminants. Very rarely do- i
they show those tufts and glands on the lower part of the hind-legs
which form such a characteristic feature in many of the Deer.
Further evidence of the specialisation or high grade ®'f .the family is
afforded by the fact that the lower ends of the metacarpal and metatarsal
bones, which perlst.in.so many of the Deer, have invariably disappeared.
Then, again, the lateral toes are very generally represented merely by the
lateral hoofs, although in certain cases some small nodules of bone within
them represent the skeleton of thesie portions of the limbs, Moreover,
in some members of the family (although in none of those -described
here) even the lateral hoofs themselves have disappeared, -and the main
hoofs alone remain. In the liver the gall-bladder, which is found
among the Deer tribe only in the Musk, is almost always present among
the Bovidce.
The geographical distribution of the Hollow-horned Ruminants is very
different to that of the Deer family. In place of being abundant in South
America, and unknown; in Africa south of the Sahara, they are wanting
in the former area and extremely abundant in the latter; Ethiopian Africa
and Central Asia being in fact their areas of maximum development.
They also extend farther north than the Deer, and the only extensive land-
areas from which they are absent are the Australasian region and South
and Central America, one extinct form having alone penetrated into the
latter area.
That, the Old World is the original home of the Bovida may be considered
as beyond dispute. And their paucity in North America (where
they are now represented only by the American bison, the musk-ox, the
big-horn, and the so-called Rocky Mountain goat) may not improbably
be due to the circumstance that most of them are inhabitants of warm
regions, and would consequently have been unable to cross what is now
Bering Strait at the time when the Old and New Worlds were connected
in that region. The few species that did succeed in crossing by
this route are more or less exclusively cold-loving animals, which may
account for the family never having succeeded in penetrating into the
hot southern half of the New World.
Geologically speaking, the Bovidce appear to be a comparatively modern
group. They are unknown in the strata where the earliest deer make their
appearance. And although a few antelopes, which are the most generalised
members o f the family, are known from the Miocene deposits of
Europe, the oxen, sheep, and goats were not developed, so far as we know,
before the Pliocene period ; and |jj is even doubtful whether sheep came
into existence before the Plistocene period, although remains attributed to
them have been reported from the Pliocene depo^fflof the Siwalik Hills
in the North of India.
With regard to the members of the family forming the subject of the
present volume, these constitute the sections or sub-families termed Bovina
and Caprina by the scientific zoologist. As the general characteristics of
these sub-families may be gleaned from those given as distinctive of the
various genera, it will be unnecessary to define them in this place. A
word must, however, be said with regard to the limitations of the term
“ goats,” which occurs in the title of this volume, seeing that its technical
and popular significations are not exactly the same. One of the four