Genus III.PELEA.

(See p. 93.)

Size small. Fur rather woolly. Naked muzzle large. No subauricular glandular patch. Skull much as inCervicapra. No anteorbital fossa. Lacrymal fissure long and narrow. Premaxillæ not reaching the nasals. Bullæ small. Horns medium in length, slender, ringed, nearly vertical, straight or slightly curved forwards; absent in the female.

Distribution.South Africa. (One species only.)

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL XLVI.Wolf del. J. Smit lith.Hanhart imp.The Vaal Rhebok.PELEA CAPREOLUS.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL XLVI.

Wolf del. J. Smit lith.

Hanhart imp.

The Vaal Rhebok.

PELEA CAPREOLUS.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Antilope capreolus,Bechst.Syst. Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 98 (1799), ii. p. 646 (1800);Thunb.Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 312 (1811) (Cape Flats);Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 251 & 262 (1815);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1232 (1818);Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821);Desm.Mamm. ii. p. 461 (1822);Licht.Darst. Säug. pl. viii. (♂ ♀) (1827);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 377 (1827);J. B. Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 467 (1829);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 77 (1832);Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 291 (1836);Oken, Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1364 (1838);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 428 (1844), v. p. 430 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 410 (1845);id.Mon. Antil. p. 14, pl. xiii. (1848);Gieb.Säug. p. 315 (1853).Antilope(Gazella)capreolus,Licht.Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 174 (1814).Cemas capreolus,Oken, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740 (1816).Redunca capreolus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 107 (1834);Harris, Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 138, pl. xxv. fig. 1 (1840);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869).Cervicapra capreolus,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 193 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 145; Reprint, p. 69 (1848).Eleotragus capreolus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 12 (1850);Blyth, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863).Eleotragus(Pelea)capreolus,Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126;id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) viii. p. 144 (1851).Pelea capreolus,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 90, pl. xxxvi. fig. 2 (skull) (1852);Gerrard, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 238 (1862);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29, pl. iii. fig. 5 (1872);id.Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 99 (1873);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, pp. 125 & 297 (1889);Ward, Horn Meas. (1) p. 85 (1892), (2) p. 130 (1896);Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 33, pl. vii. fig. 24 (1892);Lyd.Horns andHoofs, p. 220 (1893);Lorenz, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix., Notizen, p. 60 (1894);Rendall, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 360 (Transvaal).Calotragus capreolus,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).Antilope lanata,Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 445 (1822);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).Antilope villosa,Burch.Trav. ii. p. 302 (1824);id.List of Mamm. pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Swellendam, Nov. 19, 1814);H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 241, v. p. 339 (1827);Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 290 (1836);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).Eleotragus villosus,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165 (1843).

Antilope(Gazella)capreolus,Licht.Mag. nat. Fr. vi. p. 174 (1814).

Cemas capreolus,Oken, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 740 (1816).

Redunca capreolus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 107 (1834);Harris, Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 138, pl. xxv. fig. 1 (1840);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 169 (1869).

Cervicapra capreolus,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 193 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 145; Reprint, p. 69 (1848).

Eleotragus capreolus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 57 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 12 (1850);Blyth, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863).

Eleotragus(Pelea)capreolus,Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126;id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) viii. p. 144 (1851).

Pelea capreolus,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 90, pl. xxxvi. fig. 2 (skull) (1852);Gerrard, Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 238 (1862);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29, pl. iii. fig. 5 (1872);id.Hand-1. Rum. B. M. p. 99 (1873);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, pp. 125 & 297 (1889);Ward, Horn Meas. (1) p. 85 (1892), (2) p. 130 (1896);Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 33, pl. vii. fig. 24 (1892);Lyd.Horns andHoofs, p. 220 (1893);Lorenz, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix., Notizen, p. 60 (1894);Rendall, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 360 (Transvaal).

Calotragus capreolus,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 191 (1853).

Antilope lanata,Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 445 (1822);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839).

Antilope villosa,Burch.Trav. ii. p. 302 (1824);id.List of Mamm. pres. to B. M. p. 5 (1825) (Swellendam, Nov. 19, 1814);H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 241, v. p. 339 (1827);Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 290 (1836);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).

Eleotragus villosus,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 165 (1843).

Vernacular Names:—RhébokorVaal Rhébokof Dutch and English Colonists;Peeliof Bechuanas (Burchell and others);Izaof Zulus (Rendall).

Height at withers about 29 or 30 inches. General form comparatively slender and delicate. Fur soft and woolly, though not very thick. Colour dull pale grey all over, the head and limbs tending rather towards fawn-colour. Ears very long and narrow, their backs grey. Throat and belly similar to and scarcely paler than the back; chin, however, with a distinct blackish patch. Lower part of limbs slightly and inconspicuously darker in front. Tail reaching to about the level of the groin, rather bushy; fawn-grey above near the body, white below and at the end.

Horns slender, barely 2½ inches in circumference at the base, strongly ringed on their lower half, smooth at the tips; rising nearly vertically, and slightly curving forwards. In length they ordinarily attain to about 8 or 9 inches, though some of 11½ inches have been recorded.

Dimensions of an old male skull:—Basal length 7·35 inches, greatest breadth 3·95, muzzle to orbit 5.

Female.Like the male, but hornless.

Hab.S. Africa, south of the Zambesi.

Closely allied to the Reedbucks, and, in fact, hardly differing from them in general structure, except in its nearly straight horns and the want of the naked patch beneath the ears, is the Vaal Rhébok of the South-African colonists, so named by the Dutch settlers from its fancied resemblance to the Roebuck of Europe (Capreolus caprea), and so called by Le Vaillant, Sparrman, and the older authors. Bechstein in 1799 appears to be the firstauthor who gave it a scientific name, and he wisely chose for it that of “capreolus” following the precedent of the vernacular. In this he was followed by Thunberg, Afzelius, and other subsequent writers on the Antelopes, and the name has been mostly accepted and appended to the generic termPeleabestowed upon it by Gray in 1850, taken from “Peeli,” the Bechuana name of this Antelope.

In 1822, however, Desmoulins, in his article on Antelopes in the ‘Dictionnaire Classique d’Histoire Naturelle,’ redescribed the species asAntilope lanata, from specimens transmitted to Paris from the Cape by Delalande; and two years subsequently Burchell, who had met with this Antelope during his travels in Bechuanaland, gave it the new nameAntilope villosa; but neither of these appellations has attained much circulation.

The earliest recognizable figures of the Vaal Rhébok were published about 1829, when Lichtenstein gave representations of both sexes in his ‘Darstellung der Thiere’ from specimens in the Berlin Museum.

This species appears to have qualities that enable it to resist the advancing tide of civilization better than some of its kindred, and is consequently still found scattered over wide districts of the Cape. Mr. W. L. Sclater, who has kindly sent us an account of the present distribution of the Antelopes still existing within the limits of the Colony, gives us the following list of actual localities of the present species:—In the west, Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, Malmesbury, Caledon, Bredarsdorp, Zwellendam, Riversdale, Ceres, Sutherland, Prince Albert, Beaufort West, Carnarvon, Kenhardt, and Pruska (scarce); in the middle districts, Mossel Bay, Middelburg, Colesburg, and Albert; in the east of the Colony, Bathurst, Albany, Tembuland, Barkly East, Griqualand East, and Queenstown; and in the north, Great Namaqualand, Kimberley, Barkly West, and Herbert.

Besides these districts of the Cape Colony we shall presently see that the Vaal Rhébok is also found in the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, Natal, Mashonaland, and Matabeleland, and in the adjoining districts up to the Zambesi.

In the days of Harris (1836–37) we learn from his ‘Portraits’ that the “Rhébok,” as he calls it, was extremely common throughout the Cape Colony, even in the more thickly inhabited cantons. “Never entering the forest,” he tells us, “but residing chiefly among rocky glens and mountain-passes, the Rhébok inhabits the vicinage of little stagnant pools that havebeen left by the winter torrents, where small families, comprising one old male and five or six females with their fawns, may frequently be seen grazing quietly on the bare hillsides or gambolling amongst the dwarf trees and underwood. To guard against surprise a vidette is invariably on the alert; and should a human figure or other suspicious object be descried nearer than is judged to be safe, the wary sentinel forthwith extends her slender neck, and gives warning to her companions by a sharp sneeze. Away they all bound, lightly as the wind, tossing their graceful heads, whilst their dainty feet scarcely seem to touch the earth; and never slackening their pace until they have gained the summit of some distant eminence, they halt as if by word of command, and suddenly facing half round, reconnoitre the enemy. Exceedingly shy and possessed of a keen scent and a hawk-vision, it is difficult enough to approach within rifle-range; but the little herd, when thus in motion, usually winding round the base of a hill instead of taking directly up the acclivity, an opportunity is often presented to the pursuer to gallop across the path they have selected, and thus obtain an easy snap-shot.”

Mr. H. A. Bryden, in his ‘Kloof and Karroo,’ devotes a whole chapter to the pleasures of “Vaal Rhébok-shooting,” which, for some reason or other, he says, has been unaccountably neglected by hunters and naturalists, in “their rush to follow the larger and nobler game of this game-abounding country.” The most peculiar feature of this Antelope, he tells us, “lies in its coat, which differs essentially from that of every other South-African species, consisting of a thick woolly fur, approaching very closely to the texture of that of the rabbit, but softer, finer, and longer.” The venison, he adds, “although inferior to that of the Spring-bok and some of the larger Antelopes, is by no means inestimable, but has the fault, common to much South-African game, of being somewhat dry.”

Our most recent authorities on the game-animals of South Africa, Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, speak of this species as fairly well distributed, even in these days, throughout the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and portions of Natal, Zululand, and Matabeleland, but nowhere, at the present time, to be met with in large numbers.

“Like the Red Rhébuck and the Klipspringer, it is only met with in very broken country, frequenting the highest points on the mountains and kopjies, never descending to the valleys or plains except at night when in search of water. It is generally found in flocks of six or seven up to a dozen, and ismost wary and difficult of approach, one old ram usually standing on guard while the remainder feed. On the least sign of danger, the sentry immediately decamps among the rocky boulders, being instantly followed by the whole herd, springing from rock to rock with great activity. Driving is the best plan to adopt when hunting this species, the guns taking up a position in some narrow valley through which the Rhébuck are bound to pass on being driven by natives and dogs from one range of hills to another. It is worthy of remark that at certain portions of the year the entire body of this animal is often found to be burrowed with a large sort of warble, and consequently the flesh, at such times, is unfit for food, in addition to which it decomposes with great rapidity.”

Fig. 44.Head of Vaal Rhébok, ♂.

Fig. 44.

Head of Vaal Rhébok, ♂.

In the Transvaal it appears, from what Dr. Percy Rendall tells us (see P. Z. S. 1895, p. 360), under present circumstances, to be growing ratherscarce in the mining districts that he visited. It is still found, however, on the highest ridges of the Makongwe Range near Barberton. In the less frequented north-eastern portion of the Transvaal, north of the Crocodile River, Mr. Kirby found the Vaal Rhébok “throughout the mountain-ranges and near the stony krantzes bordering the terrace-lands.” They were also occasionally seen amongst the lower hills, and were observed to run in small troops of from ten to twelve in number.

The Rhébok seems to be impatient of captivity and is very seldom brought to Europe alive. The register of the Zoological Society of London contains the record of only four examples as received, two of which were transmitted by Sir George Grey from the Cape in 1861. These were both females; but a male was presented by Mr. E. R. Wodehouse in 1863, and a female was obtained by purchase in 1864. During his many visits to the continental menageries, Sclater does not recollect to have observed a single individual of this Antelope. Besides a stuffed pair of adults of this species in the Gallery of the British Museum, from the male of which our drawing of the head (fig. 44, p. 193) has been taken, there are a skin and several skulls from the Burchell and other collections. But fresh specimens of this Antelope would be desirable acquisitions.

Our coloured Plate (no. XLVI.) represents both sexes of this beautiful Antelope, giving special prominence to the long ears, one of its most remarkable features. It has been put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from an original sketch by Mr. Wolf, which Sir Douglas Brooke has kindly allowed us to examine. But we regret to say that we have no information as to the exact individuals from which these figures were taken.

February, 1897.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Besides the normally coloured specimens of Steinbok and Grysbok found so commonly in various parts of the Cape Colony, there occasionally occur pale-coloured, more or less albino, examples to which the names “Bleekbok” and “Vlackte-Steenbok” have been applied by the Dutch.On such albinistic individuals the following synonymy rests, but whether the names really belong to the Steinbok or to the Grysbok, or some to one and some to the other, it is quite impossible and of little importance now to determine:—Antilope tragulus pallida,Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 177 (1814);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).Antilope pallida,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 251, v. p. 342 (1827).Antilope pediotragus,Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 260 & 264 (1815);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1236 (1818);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 84 (1832);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Supp. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).Tragulus pediotragus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 213 (1834).Antilope rufescens,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 249, v. p. 341 (1827);Less.N. TabL R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).Calotragus melanotis pallida,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850);id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852).Calotragus rufescens,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).Pediotragus rufescens,Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 165 (1892).[2]Nauwkeurige Beschryving van de Guinese Goud-Tand en Slave-Kust. Door Willem Bosman. Utrecht, 1704.[3]See “On Mr. E. Lort Phillips’s Collection of Birds from Somali-land,” by Captain G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S., Ibis, 1885, p. 389, plates x.-xii., and another article which will appear in ‘The Ibis’ for January 1896.[4]We are indebted to the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution for a series of measurements of the hoofs of the Kilimanjaro Dik-diks collected by Dr. Abbott. These measurements have helped materially to bring us to the conclusion we have come to above, as their wide range of variation shows that certain differences in the hoof-lengths that we had previously noted in the different forms cannot be regarded as of any value for distinguishing the species, and must merely be due to individual variation.[5]“A Journey from the Shiré River to Lake Mweru and the Upper Luapula,” Geogr. Journ. i. p. 524.[6]At Rhodesia, at the extreme N.E. corner of Lake Mweru, 8° 39’ 28’’ S. lat. See Geogr. Journ. i. p. 527.[7]“On the Antelopes of Nyasaland,” by Richard Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 648.[8]See his work ‘Egypt, Sudan, and the White Nile,’ London, Blackwood & Co., 1861.[9]‘Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries,’ by Mr. and Mrs. Petherick. 2 vols. London: Tinsley Bros., 1869.[10]TheAntilope lervia, of Pallas (Spic. Zool. xii. p. 12) has been referred to this species by some authors; but that name is clearly based on Shaw’s Lerwea (‘Travels in Barbary,’ p. 243), which, as Gray has rightly pointed out, is referable to the Barbary Sheep (Ovis tragelaphus).[11]In his paper on the generic subdivision of the Bovidæ, P. Z. S. 1851, p. 170.[12]Dr. Günther, using the name given by Gray, speaks of this skull as that ofC. redunca, but it certainly belongs toC. fulvorufula.[13]In Sclater’s List of Speke’s Mammals (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103) this skull was referred to “Kobus, sp. inc.”[14]This reference was put down on a previous occasion (Vol. II. p. 23) toOurebia nigricaudata, but on finding that Schinz’s name depended on it, a more careful study of the figure and description has been made, and we now consider that Sundevall’s reference of it to the Nagor was probably correct.[15]In the southern part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.[16]See Geogr. Journ. ii. p. 534 (1893).

[1]Besides the normally coloured specimens of Steinbok and Grysbok found so commonly in various parts of the Cape Colony, there occasionally occur pale-coloured, more or less albino, examples to which the names “Bleekbok” and “Vlackte-Steenbok” have been applied by the Dutch.On such albinistic individuals the following synonymy rests, but whether the names really belong to the Steinbok or to the Grysbok, or some to one and some to the other, it is quite impossible and of little importance now to determine:—Antilope tragulus pallida,Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 177 (1814);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).Antilope pallida,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 251, v. p. 342 (1827).Antilope pediotragus,Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 260 & 264 (1815);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1236 (1818);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 84 (1832);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Supp. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).Tragulus pediotragus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 213 (1834).Antilope rufescens,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 249, v. p. 341 (1827);Less.N. TabL R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).Calotragus melanotis pallida,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850);id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852).Calotragus rufescens,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).Pediotragus rufescens,Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 165 (1892).

On such albinistic individuals the following synonymy rests, but whether the names really belong to the Steinbok or to the Grysbok, or some to one and some to the other, it is quite impossible and of little importance now to determine:—

Antilope tragulus pallida,Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 177 (1814);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).Antilope pallida,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 251, v. p. 342 (1827).Antilope pediotragus,Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 260 & 264 (1815);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1236 (1818);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 84 (1832);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Supp. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).Tragulus pediotragus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 213 (1834).Antilope rufescens,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 249, v. p. 341 (1827);Less.N. TabL R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).Calotragus melanotis pallida,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850);id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852).Calotragus rufescens,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).Pediotragus rufescens,Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 165 (1892).

Antilope tragulus pallida,Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 177 (1814);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).

Antilope pallida,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 251, v. p. 342 (1827).

Antilope pediotragus,Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 260 & 264 (1815);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1236 (1818);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 84 (1832);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. Supp. i. p. 262 (1840);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).

Tragulus pediotragus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 213 (1834).

Antilope rufescens,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 249, v. p. 341 (1827);Less.N. TabL R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).

Calotragus melanotis pallida,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850);id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852).

Calotragus rufescens,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853).

Pediotragus rufescens,Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 165 (1892).

[2]Nauwkeurige Beschryving van de Guinese Goud-Tand en Slave-Kust. Door Willem Bosman. Utrecht, 1704.

[3]See “On Mr. E. Lort Phillips’s Collection of Birds from Somali-land,” by Captain G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S., Ibis, 1885, p. 389, plates x.-xii., and another article which will appear in ‘The Ibis’ for January 1896.

[4]We are indebted to the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution for a series of measurements of the hoofs of the Kilimanjaro Dik-diks collected by Dr. Abbott. These measurements have helped materially to bring us to the conclusion we have come to above, as their wide range of variation shows that certain differences in the hoof-lengths that we had previously noted in the different forms cannot be regarded as of any value for distinguishing the species, and must merely be due to individual variation.

[5]“A Journey from the Shiré River to Lake Mweru and the Upper Luapula,” Geogr. Journ. i. p. 524.

[6]At Rhodesia, at the extreme N.E. corner of Lake Mweru, 8° 39’ 28’’ S. lat. See Geogr. Journ. i. p. 527.

[7]“On the Antelopes of Nyasaland,” by Richard Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 648.

[8]See his work ‘Egypt, Sudan, and the White Nile,’ London, Blackwood & Co., 1861.

[9]‘Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries,’ by Mr. and Mrs. Petherick. 2 vols. London: Tinsley Bros., 1869.

[10]TheAntilope lervia, of Pallas (Spic. Zool. xii. p. 12) has been referred to this species by some authors; but that name is clearly based on Shaw’s Lerwea (‘Travels in Barbary,’ p. 243), which, as Gray has rightly pointed out, is referable to the Barbary Sheep (Ovis tragelaphus).

[11]In his paper on the generic subdivision of the Bovidæ, P. Z. S. 1851, p. 170.

[12]Dr. Günther, using the name given by Gray, speaks of this skull as that ofC. redunca, but it certainly belongs toC. fulvorufula.

[13]In Sclater’s List of Speke’s Mammals (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103) this skull was referred to “Kobus, sp. inc.”

[14]This reference was put down on a previous occasion (Vol. II. p. 23) toOurebia nigricaudata, but on finding that Schinz’s name depended on it, a more careful study of the figure and description has been made, and we now consider that Sundevall’s reference of it to the Nagor was probably correct.

[15]In the southern part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

[16]See Geogr. Journ. ii. p. 534 (1893).

Transcriber’s Notes:1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

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