Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/578

 546 ANTELOPE species less familiar than either of those just named is the Siberian antelope (saiga coins or Tartarica), an animal inhabiting the region of the Caucasus, northern Persia, and Siberia. It is of medium size, resembling a deer in form, and has a peculiarly curved forehead and face. Its horns are of a light color and semi-transpa- rent, and are much valued. The animal is gre- garious and migratory in its habits. Of the goat-like antelopes there are several of the ori- ental species ; but the two most conspicuous are the European chamois, or antelope of the Alps, riipicapra tragus, resembling a goat with- out a beard, with short erect horns, suddenly curved backward at the tip, and coarse hair, beneath which lies a close coat of wool (see CHAMOIS); and the American prong-horn, A. Americana, which has considerable affinity to the chamois; its horns only differ from that IK in,- -in-ill (American -uitclope). antelope's in turning inward at the tip, and in having a short anterior, medial prong. The winter coat of this antelope differs from that of any other known animal ; the hairs, which stand out to the length of two inches at right angles to the body, being tubular, like the quills of a bird, and nearly as brittle as glass. This antelope is fully described in Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali- Americana. The antelopes of the desert are divided into two groups, the equine antelopes and the bovine antelopes. Of the equine antelopes there are but two species: the gnu, A. gnu, of South Africa, called the wildebeest by the Boers, which is nearly of the size of the ass, and has precisely the body, neck, mane, tail, and paces of a small horse, with the limbs, hoofs, and horns of an ante- lope; and the brindled gnu or gorgon, cato- blepas gorgon, called by the Boers the blauw wildebeest, of the same country. (See GNTT.) The bovine antelopes are the A. bubalis of northern Africa, equal in size to the largest stag, called by the Arabs bekker-el-wash, or the wild ox, the hartebeest, the blesbok, the bontebok, and the sassabee of southern Africa ; the korrigum of Senegal; and the doria, or gilded antelope, of western Africa. To these, which complete the list of antelopes as sci- entifically distinguished, may be added the highly interesting group of strepsicerce. This ANTENOR group of antilopean ruminants includes the koo- doo, strepsiceros kudu, which is fully 4 feet high at the shoulder, with horns nearly as long as the male is high, reflected in a beautiful sweeping spiral of 2 turns ; the eland, areas canna, which is as large as a horse, weighs from 7 to 9 cwt., unlike most antelopes is always fat, and is said to furnish meat superior to beef (see ELAND) ; and the great nil-ghau, portax trago- camelus, one of the largest of antelopes, having much the character of the ox, with the horns, head, and muzzle of an antelope, the flat com- pressed neck of a horse, with a thin erect mane, increasing into a tufted bunch on the shoulders, and a singular beard-like tuft of stiff hair growing out of the middle of its throat, peculiar to itself alone. Its fore legs are some- what longer than its hind ones, and its withers rise so much as to give it the appearance of having a hump. Its color is deep slaty blue, with a white spot on each cheek, and a large white patch on the throat. It is a native of the deep forests of India, where it is a vicious and dangerous animal, but it has been taken to England, where it lives and breeds. ANTENNJ!, horn-like members on the head of insects and crustaceous animals. The an- tenna? are commonly called feelers, but their functions are not understood. In insects they are two in number ; in crabs and lobsters there are more than two. The antenna? of insects are usually composed of minute articulated rings, containing nervous threads, muscles, tracheae, and cellular tissue, forming organs of sensation, motion, and respiration. In most orders the articulations amount to 10 or 11 in number, although they are much fewer in some species, while in others they reach even to 150. The length of the antenna? does not depend on the number of articulations, as they are often long when of only three or four pieces, and the reverse. They are inserted on the front of the head in the region of the eye, and connected by means of a ball and socket. The distinction of sex in some species is marked by the peculiar formation of the antenna?. In moths the antenna? of the male are of more simple construction than those of the female. In moths and beetles they are much longer than the body, while in the common house fly they are comparatively short. Linna?us and Bergman supposed them to be organs of touch, and they were thence termed feelers ; but M. Straus-Durckheim is of the opinion that the antennae are the insect's organs of hearing. Professor Bonsdorf, of Abo in Finland, and other naturalists, have adopted the same opinion. The younger Huber attributed to ants the use of the antennae in a sort of lan- guage, which he terms the "antenna! lan- guage," understood not only among ants them- selves, but also among the aphides, which furnish the honey-dew on which ants feed. ATKOR, a Trojan prince, son cf ^Esyetes and Cleomestra, and one of the wisest among the elders of Troy. He counselled his fellow