referring the
undulating plains and gently sloping valleys. Early in the season
they are to be found in small herds, frequently close to the snow;
as this melts they appear to disperse themselves over the higher
ground, being often found singly or in twos and threes."

_GENUS PANTHOLOPS_.

Between the gazelles and antelopes proper comes the _chiru_
(_Pantholops Hodgsonii_), though strictly speaking it is, with the
saiga antelope (_Saiga Tartarica_), though in a somewhat less degree,
connected by cranial affinities with the sheep. The saiga is notable
for its highly-arched nose and inflated nostrils, which are so much
lengthened as to necessitate the animal's walking backwards when it
feeds. The _chiru_ is not quite so developed in this respect. The
skull of the saiga is unique among ruminants, and those who wish to
become acquainted with its most minute osteological details should
refer to an article on this animal by Dr. James Murie in the 'P. Z.
S.,' 1870, p. 457. I can only here give a very brief summary of the
chief characteristics. Looked at in profile, the nasal bones we find
to be remarkably short, the face being hollowed out, as it were,
between the upper nasal cartilage and the very long and narrow
maxillary and pre-maxillary bones; great vertical depth from the top
of the nasal to the bottom of the maxillary bones; a very prominent
bovine orbit, above and a little behind which the short tapering
horns of a gazelle type are placed. The lower nasal cartilage is
prolonged on to the fibrous cord of the nares, and the profile view
of the animal in life is that of a grotesquely Roman-nosed antelope
with swollen nostrils. Its nearest relative in India is the _chiru_,
which has certain points of resemblance. The nose is but slightly
arched, but the nostrils are more swollen than in antelopes as a rule.
This is not sufficiently rendered in an otherwise admirable coloured
plate in Blanford's 'Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand
Mission,' but it is more apparent in the photograph of the head in
Kinloch's 'Large Game of Thibet.' Another approach to the saiga is
in the position of the horns, which, though of the same class, are
much longer and more attenuated, but the position over the eye and
the osseous development of the orbit are the same. The nasal bones
are also shorter in proportion to other antelopes. The super-orbital
foramina just under the horns, which are marked in most antelope and
deer, are very min