Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 2, Slice 2 Part 10

Gazelles (_Gazella_), which form by far the largest genus of the subfamily, are inhabitants of open and frequently more or less desert districts. They are mostly of a sandy colour, with dark and light markings on the face, and often a dark band on the flanks. The horns are more or less lyrate, and generally developed in both s.e.xes; there are frequently brushes of hair on the knees. Gazelles may be divided into groups. The one to which the North African _G. dorcas_ belongs is characterized by the presence of lyrate or sub-lyrate horns in both s.e.xes, and by the white of the b.u.t.tocks not extending on to the haunches. Nearly allied is the group including the Indian _G. bennetti_ and the Arabian _G. arabica_, in which the horns have a somewhat S-shaped curvature in profile. In the group represented by the African _G. granti_, _G. thomsoni_, _G. mohr_, &c., the white of the b.u.t.tocks often sends a prolongation on to the flanks, the horns are long and the size is large. Lastly, the Central Asian _G. gutturosa_, _G.

subgutturosa_ and _G. picticaudata_ form a group in which the females are hornless and the face-markings inconspicuous or wanting.

The South African springbuck (_Antidorcas euch.o.r.e_) is nearly related to the gazelles, from which it is distinguished by the presence on the middle line of the loins of an evertible pouch, lined with long white hairs capable of erection. It has also one premolar tooth less in the lower jaw. Formerly these beautiful antelopes existed in countless numbers on the plains of South Africa, and were in the habit of migrating in droves which completely filled entire valleys. Now they are comparatively rare.

The dibatag or Clarke's gazelle (_Ammodorcas clarkei_), of Somaliland, forms a kind of connecting link between the true gazelles and the gerenuk, this being especially shown in the skull. The face has the ordinary gazelle-markings; but the rather short horns--which are wanting in the female--have a peculiar upward and forward curvature, unlike that obtaining in the gazelles and somewhat resembling that of the reedbuck.

The neck is longer and more slender than in ordinary gazelles, and the tail is likewise relatively long. Although local, these animals are fairly common in the interior of Somaliland, where they are known by the name of dibatag. In running, the head and neck are thrown backwards, while the tail is turned forwards over the back.

The East African gerenuk (q.v.), or Waller's gazelle (_Lithocranius walleri_), of which two races have been named, is a very remarkable ruminant, distinguished not only by its exceedingly elongated neck and limbs, but also by the peculiar hooked form of the very ma.s.sive horns of the bucks, the dense structure and straight profile of the skull, and the extreme slenderness of the lower jaw.

A still more aberrant gazelle is a small North-East African species known as the beira (_Dorcatragus melanotis_), with very short horns, large hoofs and a general appearance recalling that of some of the members of the subfamily _Neotraginae_, although in other respects gazelle-like. The blackbuck (_Antilope cervicapra_ or _A. bezoartica_) of India, a species taking its name from the deep black coat a.s.sumed by the adult bucks, and easily recognized by the graceful, spirally twisted horns ornamenting the heads of that s.e.x, is now the sole representative of the genus _Antilope_, formerly taken to embrace the whole of the true antelopes. Large face-glands are characteristic of the species, which inhabits the open plains of India in large herds. They leap high in the air, like the springbuck, when on the move.

With the palla (q.v.), or impala (_Aepyceros melampus_), we reach an exclusively African genus, characterized by the lyrate horns of the bucks, the absence of lateral hoofs, and the presence of a pair of glands with black tufts of hair on the hind-feet.

The sheep-like saiga (q.v.), _Saiga tatarica_, of the Kirghiz steppes stands apart from all other antelopes by its curiously puffed and trunk-like nose, which can be wrinkled up when the animal is feeding and has the nostrils opening downwards. More or less nearly related to the saiga is the chiru (q.v.), _Pantholops hodgsoni_ of Tibet, characterized by the long upright black horns of the bucks, and the less convex nose, in which the nostrils open anteriorly instead of downwards.

The _Neotraginae_ (or _Nanotraginae_) form an exclusively African group of small-sized antelopes divided into several, for the most part nearly related, genera. Almost the only characters they possess in common are the short and spike-like horns of the bucks, which are ringed at the base, with smooth tips, and the large size of the face-gland, which opens by a circular aperture. _Neotragus_ is represented by the pigmy royal antelope (_N. pygmaeus_) of Guinea; _Hylarnus_ includes one species from Cameroon and a second from the Semliki forest; while _Nesotragus_ comprises the East African suni antelopes, _N. moschatus_ and _N. livingstonia.n.u.s_. All three might, however, well be included in _Neotragus_. The royal antelope is the smallest of the Bovidae.

The steinbok (_Rhaphiceros campestris_) and the _grysbok_ (_R.

melanotis_) are the best-known representatives of a group characterized by the vertical direction of the horns and the small gland-pit in the skull; lateral hoofs being absent in the first-named and present in the second. A bare gland-patch behind the ear serves to distinguish the oribis or ourebis, as typified by _Oribia montana_ of the Cape; lateral hoofs being present and the face-pit large.

From all the preceding the tiny dik-diks (_Madoqua_) of North-East Africa differ by their hairy noses, expanded in some species into short trunks; while the widely spread klipspringer (q.v.), _Oreotragus saltator_, with its several local races, is unfailingly distinguishable by its rounded blunt hoofs and thick, brittle, golden-flecked hair.

In some respects connecting the last group with the _Cervicaprinae_ is the rhebok, or vaal-rhebok (_Pelea capreolus_), a grey antelope of the size of a roebuck, with small upright horns in the bucks recalling those of the last group, and small lateral hoofs, but no face-glands. In size and several structural features it approximates to the more typical _Cervicaprinae_, as represented by the reedbuck (_Cervicapra_), and the waterbucks and kobs (_Cobus_ or _Kobus_), all of which are likewise African. These are medium-sized or large antelopes with naked muzzles, narrow sheep-like upper molars, fairly long tails, rudimentary or no face-glands, and pits in the frontal bones of the skull. Reedbuck (q.v.), or rietbok (_Cervicapra_), are foxy-red antelopes ranging in size from a fallow-deer to a roe, with thick bushy tails, forwardly curving black horns, and a bare patch of glandular skin behind each ear.

They keep to open country near water. The waterbuck (q.v.), _Cobus_, on the other hand, actually seek refuge from pursuit in the water. They have heavily fringed necks, tufted tails, long lyrate horns in the bucks (fig. 4) but no glandular ear-patches. The true waterbuck (_C.

ellipsiprymnus_), and the defa.s.sa or sing-sing (_C. defa.s.sa_), are the two largest species, equal in size to red deer, and grey or reddish in colour. Of the smaller forms or kobs, _C. maria_ and _C. leucotis_ of the swamps of the White Nile are characterized by the black coats of the adult bucks; the West African _C. cob_, and its East African representative _C. thomasi_, are wholly red antelopes of the size of roedeer; the lichi or lechwe (_C. lichi_) is characterized by its long horns, black fore-legs and superior size; while the puku (_C. vardoni_), which is also a swamp-loving species from South-Central Africa, differs from the three preceding species by the fore-legs being uniformly foxy.

[Il.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--Waterbuck (_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_).]

The duikers, or duikerboks (_Cephalophus_), of Africa, which range in size from a large hare to a fallow-deer, typify the subfamily _Cephalophinae_, characterized by the spike-like horns of the bucks, the elongated aperture of the face-glands, the naked muzzle, the relatively short tail, and the square-crowned upper molars; lateral hoofs being present. In the duikers themselves the single pair of horns is set in the midst of a tuft of long hairs, and the face-gland opens in a long naked line on the side of the face above the muzzle. The group is represented in India by the chousingha or four-horned antelope (_Tetraceros quadricornis_), generally distinguished by the feature from which it takes its name (see DUIKER).

The last section of the true antelopes is the _Bubalinae_, represented by the hartebeest (q.v.), _Bubalis_, blesbok and sa.s.saby (_Damaliscus_), and the gnu (q.v.) or wildebeest (_Connochaetes_, also called _Catoblepas_), all being African with the exception of one or two hartebeests which range into Syria. All these are large and generally more or less uniformly coloured antelopes with horns in both s.e.xes, long and more or less hairy tails, high withers, small face-glands, naked muzzles, tall, narrow upper molars, and the absence of pits in the frontal bones. The long face, high crest for the horns, which are ringed, lyrate and more or less strongly angulated, and the moderately long tail, are the distinctive features of the hartebeests. They are large red antelopes (fig. 5), often with black markings on the face and limbs. In _Damaliscus_, which includes, among many other species, the blesbok and bontebok (_D. albifrons_ and _D. pygargus_) and the sa.s.saby or b.a.s.t.a.r.d hartebeest (_D. lunatus_), the face is shorter, and the horns straighter and set on a less elevated crest. The colour, too, of these antelopes tends in many cases to purple, with white markings. From the hartebeest the gnus (fig. 6) differ by their smooth and outwardly or downwardly directed horns, broad bristly muzzles, heavy manes and long horse-like tails. There are two chief types, the white-tailed gnu or black wildebeest (_Connochaetes gnu_) of South Africa, now nearly extinct (fig. 6), and the brindled gnu, or blue wildebeest (_C.

taurinus_), which, with some local variation, has a large range in South and East Africa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--Cape Hartebeest (_Bubalis cama_).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--White-tailed Gnu, or Black Wildebeest (_Connochaetes gnu_).]

In concluding this survey of living antelopes, reference may be made to the subfamily _Rupicaprinae_ (typified by the European chamois), the members of which, as already stated, are in some respects intermediate between antelopes and goats. They are all small or medium-sized mountain ruminants, for the most part European and Asiatic, but with one North American representative. They are heavily built ruminants, with horns of nearly equal size in both s.e.xes, short tapering tails, large hoofs, narrow goat-like upper molars, and usually small face-glands. The horns are generally rather small, upright, ringed at the base, and more or less curved backwards, but in the takin they are gnu-like. The group is represented by the European chamois or gemse (_Rupicapra tragus_ or _R.

rupicapra_), broadly distinguished by its well-known hook-like horns, and the Asiatic gorals (_Urotragus_) and serows (_Nemorhaedus_), which are represented by numerous species ranging from Tibet, the Himalaya, and China, to the Malay Peninsula and islands, being in the two latter areas the sole representatives of both antelopes and goats. In the structure of its horns the North American white Rocky Mountain goat (_Oreamnus_) is very like a serow, from which it differs by its extremely short cannon-bones. In the latter respect this ruminant resembles the takin (_Budorcas_) of Tibet, which, as already mentioned, has horns recalling those of the white-tailed gnu. Possibly the Arctic musk-ox (_Ovibos_) may be connected with the takin by means of certain extinct ruminants, such as the North American Pleistocene _Euceratherium_ and the European Pliocene _Criotherium_ (see CHAMOIS, GORAL, SEROW, ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT and TAKIN).

_Extinct Antelopes._--Only a few lines can be devoted to extinct antelopes, the earliest of which apparently date from the European Miocene. An antelope from the Lower Pliocene of Northern India known as _Bubalis_, or _Damaliscus, palaeindicus_ indicates the occurrence of the hartebeest group in that country. _Cobus_ also occurs in the same formation, as does likewise _Hippotragus_. _Palaeoryx_ from the corresponding horizon in Greece and Samos is to some extent intermediate between _Hippotragus_ and _Oryx_. Gazelles are common in the Miocene and Pliocene of both Europe and Asia. Elands and kudus appear to have been represented in India during the Pliocene; the European _Palaeoreas_ of the same age seems to be intermediate between the two, while _Protragelaphus_ is evidently another European representative of the group. _Helicophora_ is another spiral-horned European Pliocene antelope, but of somewhat doubtful affinity; the same being the case with the large _Criotherium_ of the Samos Pliocene, in which the short horns are curiously twisted. As already stated, there is a possibility of this latter ruminant being allied both to the takin and the musk-ox.

_Palaeotragus_ and _Tragoceros_, of the Lower Pliocene of Greece, at one time regarded as antelopes, are now known to be ancestors of the okapi.

For antelopes in general, see P.L. Sclater and O. Thomas, _The Book of Antelopes_ (4 vols., London, 1894-1900). (R. L.*)

ANTEMNAE (Lat. _ante amnem_, sc. _Anienem_; Varro, _Ling. Lat_. v. 28), an ancient village of Latium, situated on the W. of the Via Salaria, 2 m. N. of Rome, where the Anio falls into the Tiber. It is said to have been conquered by Romulus after the rape of the Sabine women, and to have a.s.sisted the Tarquins. Certainly it soon lost its independence, and in Strabo's time was a mere village. The site is one of great strength, and is now occupied by a fort, in the construction of which traces of the outer walls and of huts, and several wells and a cistern, all belonging to the primitive village, were discovered, and also the remains of a villa of the end of the Republic.

See T. Ashby in _Papers of the British School at Rome_, iii. 14.

ANTENOR, an Athenian sculptor, of the latter part of the 6th century B.C. He was the author of the group of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogeiton, set up by the Athenians on the expulsion of the Peisistratidae, and carried away to Persia by Xerxes. A basis with the signature of Antenor, son of Eumares, has been shown to belong to one of the dedicated female figures of archaic style which have been found on the Acropolis of Athens.

See GREEK ART; and E.A. Gardner's _Handbook of Greek Sculpture_, i. p.

182.

ANTENOR, in Greek legend, one of the wisest of the Trojan elders and counsellors. He advised his fellow-townsmen to send Helen back to her husband, and showed himself not unfriendly to the Greeks and an advocate of peace. In the later story, according to Dares and Dictys, he was said to have treacherously opened the gates of Troy to the enemy; in return for which, at the general sack of the city, his house, distinguished by a panther's skin at the door, was spared by the victors. Afterwards, according to various versions of the legend, he either rebuilt a city on the site of Troy, or settled at Cyrene, or became the founder of Patavium.

Homer, _Iliad_, iii. 148, vii. 347; Horace, _Epp_. i. 2. 9; Livy i. 1; Pindar, _Pythia_, v. 83; Virgil, _Aen_. i. 242.

ANTEQUERA (the ancient _Anticaria_), a town of southern Spain, in the province of Malaga; on the Bobadilla-Granada railway. Pop. (1900) 31,609. Antequera overlooks the fertile valley bounded on the S. by the Sierra de los Torcales, and on the N. by the river Guadalhorce. It occupies a commanding position, while the remains of its walls, and of a fine Moorish castle on a rock that overhangs the town, show how admirably its natural defences were supplemented by art. Besides several interesting churches and palaces, it contains a fine arch, erected in 1595 in honour of Philip II., and partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry. In the eastern suburbs there is one of the largest grave-mounds in Spain, said to be of prehistoric date, and with subterranean chambers excavated to a depth of 65 ft. The Pena de los Enamorados, or "Lovers'

Peak," is a conspicuous crag which owes its name to the romantic legend adapted by Robert Southey (1774-1843) in his _Laila and Manuel_. Woollen fabrics are manufactured, and the sugar industry established in 1890 employs several thousand hands; but the majority of the inhabitants are occupied by the trade in grain, fruit, wine and oil. Marble is quarried; and at El Torcal, 6 m. south, there is a very curious labyrinth of red marble rocks. Antequera was captured from the Moors in 1410, and became until 1492 one of the most important outposts of the Christian power in Spain.

See C. Fernandez, _Historia de Antequera, desde su fondacion_ (Malaga, 1842).

ANTEROS, pope for some weeks at the end of the year 235. He died on the 3rd of January 236. His original epitaph was discovered in the Catacombs.

ANTHELION (late Gr. [Greek: anthelios], opposite the sun), the luminous ring or halo sometimes seen in Alpine or polar regions surrounding the shadow of the head of an observer cast upon a bank of cloud or mist. The halo diminishes in brightness from the centre outwards, and is probably due to the diffraction of light. Under favourable conditions four concentric rings may be seen round the shadow of the observer's head, the outermost, which seldom appears, having an angular radius of 40.

ANTHEM, derived from the Gr. [Greek: antiphona], through the Saxon _antefn_, a word which originally had the same meaning as antiphony (q.v.). It is now, however, generally restricted to a form of church music, particularly in the service of the Church of England, in which it is appointed by the rubrics to follow the third collect at both morning and evening prayer, "in choirs and places where they sing." It is just as usual in this place to have an ordinary hymn as an anthem, which is a more elaborate composition than the congregational hymns. Several anthems are included in the English coronation service. The words are selected from Holy Scripture or in some cases from the Liturgy, and the music is generally more elaborate and varied than that of psalm or hymn tunes. Anthems may be written for solo voices only, for the full choir, or for both, and according to this distinction are called respectively _Verse, Full_, and _Full with Verse_. Though the anthem of the Church of England is a.n.a.logous to the _motet_ of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches, both being written for a trained choir and not for the congregation, it is as a musical form essentially English in its origin and development. The English school of musicians has from the first devoted its chief attention to this form, and scarcely a composer of any note can be named who has not written several good anthems. Tallis, Tye, Byrd, and Farrant in the 16th century; Orlando Gibbons, Blow, and Purcell in the 17th, and Croft, Boyce, James Kent, James Nares, Benjamin Cooke, and Samuel Arnold in the 18th were famous composers of anthems, and in more recent times the names are too numerous to mention.

ANTHEMION (from the Gr. [Greek: anthemion], a flower), the conventional design of flower or leaf forms which was largely employed by the Greeks to decorate (1) the fronts of ante-fixae, (2) the upper portion of the stele or vertical tombstones, (3) the necking of the Ionic columns of the Erechtheum and its continuation as a decorative frieze on the walls of the same, and (4) the cymatium of a cornice. Though generally known as the honeysuckle ornament, from its resemblance to that flower, its origin will be found in the flower of the acanthus plant.