Family V. Bovidæ.
(Oxen.)
Though the small group of Ruminants which are known as Oxen are so obviously marked as to be recognised without difficulty, even by an unscientific observer, their family characters are subordinate and comparatively unimportant. They have horns in both sexes, which are permanent, hollow, and supported upon bony cores, which have numerous cells communicating with the interior of the skull.. The horns are simple, rounded, and tapering to a point; they are curved outwards and upwards, so as to form together a crescent, including the bony ridge of the forehead by which they are connected. ‘There are no cavities beneath the eyes, nor at the base of the toes. The mammæ are situated between the hinder limbs, and have four teats. The forehead is expansive; the muzzle, with one exception, broad, naked, and moist; the neck, which is carried in the same line as the body, is thick, deep, and compressed ; from its under part hangs a pendulous doubling of the skin, called a dewlap. The processes of the spine, at the shoulders, are high, hence the withers are always elevated, and in several instances surmounted by a hump. The general form is massive; the head is large, the body square and heavy, the haunches wide, the limbs low and strong. The expression of the countenance is often, particularly in the males, malignant and threatening, indicative of the ferocity that belongs to several of the species. On
