“ In summer the hair of the pronghorn is smooth and flexible, but as winter approaches it lengthens; each hair becomes thick, its interior becomes white and spongy, and it loses its flexibility, at last becoming brittle, so that its point is easily rubbed off. ”

“ These stand about a foot in height, are curved inward, often so as to be truly lyrate, and—unlike any other sheath-horn known—are branched, having one prong (occasionally more) on the anterior edge. Every winter these horns are pushed off by new hairy growths beneath them, comparable to the ‘velvet’ of deer's antlers, which in turn harden into another pair of true horns. This distinction is deemed sufficient to justify placing the pronghorn in a separate family, the Antilocapridæ, intermediate between the giraffes and the Bovidæ. The horns of the female are rudimentary. ”

“ The shape of the body is deer-like, but more robust; the head is carried erect, while the bounding gait and alert air are gazelle-like. (See Colored Plate of Antelopes.) The animal differs from the true antelopes and from all other ruminants in the total absence of ‘false hoofs,’ and in the remarkable nature of its horns, which are deciduous. The skull is surmounted by two spike-like horn-cores, rising over the great eye-orbit and leaning outward. ”