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Skull dimensions :--Basal length 5?65 inches, greatest breadth 2?95, muzzle to orbit 3?44.

Theodor von Heuglin met with this Antelope in several districts of Central and West Abyssinia at elevations of from 6000 to 8000 feet above the sea-level. He remarks that it prefers the rocky and bushy parts of the steppes, and often cries out like a Roebuck when struck by a shot. Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., found this Antelope rare in the country traversed by the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867-68. He saw it only two or three times, near Dolo and Harkhallet, north of Antalo, at an elevation of about 7000 feet above the sea-level, where it inhabits bushy ground or high grass. A buck shot by Mr. Blanford was 22 1/2 inches high at the shoulder, the mammae were four in number, and the suborbital and inguinal glands were well developed. We learn from Mr. W. L. Sclater's 'Catalogue,' that one of Mr. Blanford's skins is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Finally Dr. Giglioli includes the Abyssinian Oribi amongst the mammals of which specimens have been transmitted to Italy from Shoa by the Italian naturalists Boutourline and Traversi. Dr. Giglioli observes that the sexes were alike in colour in these specimens, but that the male was rather larger in size than the hornless female.

The head of the "Madoqua" figured by Schweinfurth in 'Im Herzen von Afrika' was probably taken from an example of this Antelope. It was met with along with a species of Duiker in Bongo on the upper waters of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and observed in pairs among the bushes. Its native name there is "Heggolah."

In the British Museum there are the skull of an adult male of this species and three skins of females from Dembelas, Abyssinia.

OUREBIA HAGGARDI .

Other external characters not yet positively known.

Skull with a rather shorter muzzle than in the common species. Horns very much thicker and heavier than in any of the previous species; the ridges strongly developed and sharply angular. Owing partly to the development of the ridges the front edge of their lower half is convex forwards, while the upper half is as usual concave forwards; viewed from the side the horns therefore appear to have a slight tendency towards the serpentine double curvature characteristic of the Gazelles, although far less developed.

Skull dimensions :--Basal length 5?6 inches, greatest breadth 2?97, orbit to muzzle 3?4.

A fifth species of Oribi, with which as yet we are only imperfectly acquainted, seems to be found in British East Africa and the adjoining districts of Southern Somaliland. Its size is that of the Cape and Zambesian species, and its auricular gland is well developed. But it is readily distinguishable from all the other members of the group by its thick and strongly ridged horns, which contrast markedly with the slender and comparatively smooth horns of all the preceding species.

Mr. F. J. Jackson, in his 'Big Game Shooting,' gives us the following account of the "Taya":--

"The East-African Oribi I have found more plentiful on the mainland near Lamu than anywhere else. Sir Robert Harvey and Mr. Hunter, in October and November 1888, also found it in fair numbers up the Tana river. I have never seen it myself south of the Sabaki, though doubtless it is to be met with there also in suitable places. At Merereni, where the country seems admirably suited to its habits, although I was shooting there for some time in 1885 and 1886, I never saw one, though fifteen miles further south, near Mambrui, I observed its spoor. This confirmed me in my theory that the Oribi is very partial to the vicinity of cultivated tracts, and I do not remember having seen one in an uninhabited district. At Taka, a small village on the mainland opposite Patta Island, I saw great numbers in 1885.

"In the vicinity of this village there was a great deal of land which at one time had been under cultivation, but was then lying fallow and covered with coarse dry grass, about two feet high. This afforded excellent covert, and, as the colour of these little Antelopes closely resembles that of dry grass, it was very difficult to see them. Except in one way, stalking them was quite hopeless. I found that the only plan to get them was to walk them up with one or two beaters on each side of me, and shoot them with a gun loaded with S. S. G. shot. They lie so close that they will let the sportsman get within ten or fifteen yards of them before they will move, but they rarely give him a chance of a shot under from forty to fifty yards. When they first get up it is only possible to follow their movements by the waving of the grass. It is necessary, however, always to be prepared for a snap-shot, as after going some twenty to thirty yards they will bound up into the air, offering a capital chance, which may be the only one, as they will be out of range before they again appear in like manner. This bounding into the air is, I believe, to enable them to see where they are going to, and it is a curious fact that when they alight they invariably do so on their hind legs, not unlike a Kangaroo.

"An Oribi, even when only slightly wounded, will, as a rule, go a very short distance before lying down, and the sportsman should, therefore, be careful to follow up all those that he thinks he may have touched."

Type.

Accessory hoofs present or absent. No naked glandular spots below ears or tufts on knees. Tail short.

Skull stout and strongly built, with a short broad muzzle. Anteorbital fossae small but deep, their edges rounded and unridged above and below.

Horns nearly vertical, slender, scarcely ridged.

The species we refer to this genus may be divided as follows:--

RAPHICERUS MELANOTIS .

Height about 22-23 inches. Fur long and coarse, of a deep rich red colour profusely mixed with pure white hairs, whence the name "Grys" or Grey-buck. Under surface paler, but not white. Crown frequently with a black crescentic mark running round it, as in the Steinbok. Ears very large, their backs grey. Limbs red. Accessory hoofs present, but very small, far smaller than in the Oribis. Tail very short, not blackened at its tip.

Skull and horns very like those of a Steinbok, but the nasal bones seem to be shorter, and the premaxillae do not reach so far backwards. A good adult male skull of this species is, however, a desideratum: we have only been able to examine immature specimens or those deteriorated by confinement.

In his 'Darstellung neuer oder wenig bekannter S?ugethiere,' Lichtenstein has given coloured figures of both sexes of this Antelope from specimens in the Berlin Museum, probably procured by himself. In the days of Lichtenstein the Grysbok was to be found in all the middle and western districts of the Cape Colony amongst the hills, and, according to him, was particularly esteemed as game on account of its tender and delicate flesh.

In 1861 Mr. E. L. Layard describes the Grysbok as still found in some abundance at the foot of Table Mountain and on the Lion's Hill in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town, though we are somewhat doubtful whether that is the case at the present time.

Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington speak of the Grysbok as being mostly found in the eastern districts of the Colony and on the borders of Natal. Its habits, they state, are solitary and almost identical with those of the Steinbok , except that it invariably frequents hilly, broken, and stony country in preference to open flats. Its flesh, they add, is not particularly good. As regards its range farther north, Mr. Selous tells us that beyond the Limpopo the Grysbok is only met with in certain hilly districts of the more easterly portions of the interior. In Matabeleland it is very scarce, but in all the hilly country of the Victoria Falls and throughout Mashonaland down to the Zambesi it is fairly numerous. Mr. Selous also speaks of it as being met with in the South African territory north of the Zambesi as far as he penetrated; and Peters has recorded its presence, not uncommonly, in the plains of Sena, Tette, and Macanga in Mozambique up to 16? N. latitude.

The Grysbok is included by Matschie in his recently published work on the Mammals of German East Africa, but only upon the ground that it will probably be found to occur there. We are not able to confirm this statement, having never seen specimens of the Grysbok from any locality so far north.

The Grysbok has been occasionally brought alive to Europe, but does not appear to do well in captivity. The first example recorded in the Zoological Society's register is a female presented by Sir George Grey in 1861. A second specimen was obtained by purchase in 1864, and a third in 1869. In May of the present year a female specimen was presented to the Society by Mr. J. E. Matcham, of Port Elizabeth, but did not live long in the Gardens. From this animal the figure of the Grysbok now given has been coloured by Mr. Smit, though the plate was originally taken by the same artist from a water-colour drawing prepared by Wolf, under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke, from some other specimen. This drawing, along with many other original sketches of Wolf's, is now in the possession of Sir Douglas Brooke.

The National Collection is not well provided with examples of this Antelope. Besides a pair collected by Burchell in 1814 there are in the series only some skulls and skeletons of somewhat doubtful authority. Good fresh specimens of both sexes of the Grysbok, accompanied by their skulls, would therefore form a valuable acquisition to the British Museum.

RAPHICERUS CAMPESTRIS .

Size small. General colour bright sandy rufous, richer on the head. Top of muzzle and a horseshoe-shaped marking on the crown generally brown, but these marks are by no means constant. A white supraorbital stripe, much as in the Oribi. No auricular gland. No knee-tufts nor false hoofs present. Tail short, coloured above like the back, below whitish, no black tip.

Skull stoutly built, its upper surface peculiarly roughened and ridged. Premaxillae reaching to, and articulating with, the nasals.

Horns, in proportion to the size of the animal, longer than in the Oribis, very slender, smooth, and practically unridged throughout. Their direction is nearly vertical, and they are slightly curved forwards.

Dimensions, ?:--Height at withers 19?5 inches, length of hind foot 9?7, ear 4?2.

Skull: basal length 4?86 inches, greatest breadth 2?68, muzzle to orbit 2?6.

Captain Harris, in his 'Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of South Africa,' published in 1840, figures the Steen-bok, as he calls it, along with the Rhebok in his 25th plate, and speaks of it as "common in the Colony."

In 1861, when Mr. Layard prepared his 'Catalogue of the Mammals in the Collection of the South African Museum,' the Steinbok was spoken of as then common throughout the Colony. It is partial, Mr. Layard tells us, "to flat plains covered with bushes" and "selects a spot, in the immediate neighbourhood of which it may constantly be found. When a Steinbok is killed off, a few days suffice to reproduce a new occupant for the favoured spot."

From the western frontiers of the Cape Colony the Steinbok, or a very nearly allied form, appears to extend up to the Cunene River in the interior of Angola, whence specimens, referred by M. Du Bocage, with some hesitation, to the Steinbok, were forwarded in 1874 to the Lisbon Museum by M. d'Anchieta.

The only example of the Steinbok registered in the Zoological Society's Catalogues is a female specimen presented by Sir George Grey, K.C.B., then Governor of the Cape Colony, in 1861. We are not aware of any other examples of this Antelope having been brought to Europe.

Our figure of this species was put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a drawing by Wolf prepared under the directions of the late Sir Victor Brooke. The drawing is now in Sir Douglas Brooke's possession. We regret to be unable to state from what specimen it was taken.

The National Collection contains a pair of mounted specimens of this Antelope obtained by Wahlberg in Cafferland, and several skins without exact localities. A skull from Port Elizabeth was obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous. Further specimens of both sexes with exact dates and localities would be highly appreciated.

RAPHICERUS NEUMANNI .

As already stated in our remarks on the preceding species, we are by no means satisfied as to the specific difference of the Steinbok of East Africa from the corresponding form met with south of the Zambesi. But until further evidence on this point is available we will not dissent from the views of Herr Matschie, who has decided that the East-African form is distinct, and has proposed to call it after Herr Oscar Neumann, to whom the Berlin Museum is indebted for its specimens.

In his appendix to Sir John Willoughby's 'East Africa and its Big Game,' Mr. Hunter includes the "Steinbok" amongst the Antelopes met with in the plains round Kilimanjaro, where, he says, it is very often seen in the long grass. Mr. F. J. Jackson also speaks of the "Steinbok" in his account of the Antelopes of the same district. He says that its Swahili name is "Ishah," but that it is better known to some sportsmen as the Grass-Antelope, and continues as follows:--"It is more plentiful at Kilimanjaro than elsewhere, though I have seen a good many all along the caravan-route, wherever it passes through open grass country, between Mombasa and Nzoi in Ukambani. This little Antelope is the smallest of those found in the open plains. It is a stupid little beast, and requires very little stalking to outwit it. It will often stand gazing at anyone who approaches, and allow him to walk up to within 100 yards of it."

In his 'Field-notes on the Antelopes of Nyasaland,' published in 1890, Mr. R. Crawshay includes the Steinbuck. But he had only procured one specimen, and admits that he was uncertain as to its identification.

As will be seen by this and by previous remarks that we have made, our knowledge of the Antelopes of East Africa is still far from complete, and there is a large opportunity for further discoveries on this subject by those who will kindly assist us with notes and specimens.

Type.

No auricular glands or accessory hoofs.

Horns half or more the basal length of the skull, strongly slanted back almost to the continuation line of the facial profile; strongly, but finely, closely ridged for their basal half or three-fourths.

To this genus there belong two closely allied species, which may be distinguished as follows:--

NESOTRAGUS MOSCHATUS, VON D?B.

Size small; height about 13 inches at withers. General colour dull, finely grizzled fawn-grey, with a tinge of rufous, which is especially strong on the face and sides of the neck. Top of nose with a brown patch. Throat pale rufous. Chin, belly, and inner sides of limbs white. Upper part of outer sides of limbs like flanks, lower part, from elbows and hocks downwards, pale rufous; pasterns brown. Tail grizzled greyish above like the back, whitish below.

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