The Antilopine section includes a number of genera.
The genus Antilope is Indian in range. It includes but one species, A. cervicapra. This Antelope is of medium size, with a brown pelage getting blacker with years; it is thus known as the Black-buck. The female, which is hornless, is lighter brown. The horns are long, spirally twisted, and closely ringed.
Aepyceros, with two species, is African. The Palla (Ae. melampus) is a large Antelope, with longish lyrate horns in the male, which are half-ringed.
The Saiga Antelope, genus Saiga, is one of the most remarkable types of Antelope in its outward appearance. Its nose is very large and inflated, the two nostrils being quite widely separated, a depression indeed lying between them dorsally. The horns are lyrate in the male, absent in the female. The "ovine expression" of this bovine animal is more pronounced in the female. Corresponding with the clumsy nose are very short nostrils, the commencement of the narial aperture being therefore very far back. It is almost suggestive of Macrauchenia in this respect. The fleece is also Sheep-like. The genus occurred in this country during the Pleistocene. It is now an inhabitant of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The only species is S. tartarica.
The Chiru, Pantholops, is allied to the Saiga. The horns of the male are long and nearly straight; they are ringed in front. The muzzle is swollen in the male; the nostrils are large, and provided with extensive sacs internally. The colour of this animal, which is exclusively Thibetan in range, is a pale fawn. The hair, in accord with its habitat, is very woolly. No living specimens have ever been brought to Europe. This creature has accumulated much
legend. Its blood is believed by the Mongols to possess virtues, and by means of the rings on the horns fortunes are told. Naturally the animal is on these grounds hard to stalk and shoot.
Fig. 161.—Loder's Gazelle. Gazella loderi. × 1⁄10.
The Gazelles, genus Gazella, are fairly numerous in species, which are both Palaearctic and Ethiopian. There are altogether twenty-five of them. The genus as a whole is characterised by the small or moderate size, the sandy coloration with white belly, the presence of dark and light stripes on the face and on the flanks. These streaks, however, are not always present, and their presence or absence serves to differentiate some of the species. The horns are usually present in both sexes. The horns are of fair length, ringed, and of lyrate form.
The Springbok is separated from the rest of the Gazelles, to which genus it is clearly most nearly related, as a genus Antidorcas. This genus differs from Gazella by having only two lower premolars as in Saiga. Otherwise it resembles the Gazelles; there is but a single species, A. euchore, which is African.