Chapter IV: Appendix (3)

Lord Derby obtained his first female Leucoryx in 1837, but it was not until the retirement of Mr. Cross from the Surrey Zoological Gardens and the consequent dispersal of that collection, some six or seven years afterwards, that he succeeded in acquiring a male. Owing to the age of the female at that time, although she bred twice with the male she failed to rear her offspring, and died in 1846, being then, as Lord Derby believed, the only female of this species in England. When the Derby Menagerie was dispersed in August 1851, the pair of Leucoryx Antelopes were among the animals selected by the Zoological Society of London, in virtue of Lord Derby’s bequest to them, and became the foundation of a stock which flourished for many years in the Regent’s Park Gardens. Young ones were bred of this pair or of their descendants in 1852, 1853, 1860, and 1864. Fresh examples of the Leucoryx were obtained by the Society in 1870 and 1880, and in 1881 a fine female was brought home and presented to the Menagerie by the late Mr. John M. Cook, F.Z.S.

This Antelope has not done so well in the Regent’s Park of late years, but there is still one example of it living in the Menagerie, obtained last year, and it is hoped that a breeding pair may soon be re-established. An excellent figure of the adults of both sexes of the Leucoryx Antelope, drawn by Wolf from the Zoological Society’s specimens, was published in the first volume of Wolf and Sclater’s ‘Zoological Sketches.’ In the second volume of the same work a young one, likewise drawn by the same skilful artist, is represented on plate xix. The calf in question was born in 1851, and was about six months old when Mr. Wolfs water-colour drawing (from which fig. 93, p. 49, has been taken) was prepared.

Lord Derby’s stock of the Leucoryx is said to have been received from Nubia, while others in the Zoological Society’s Gardens came from Senegal.

We have not been able to recognize any difference between animals from these two countries, although they have been separated as distinct local forms (_nubica_ and _senegalensis_) by Wagner, and more recently by Herr Matschie as different species.

There are at present no complete specimens of this Antelope in the British Museum, and skins of it fit for mounting both from Dongola and from Senegal are much required, in order that a strict comparison of examples from these widely distant localities may be made. The series now in the National Collection consists only of a mounted skeleton formerly in the Zoological Society’s Museum, a skin and skull of a young one from Sennaar, and some skulls and horns.

Our Plate of this Antelope (Plate LXXXI.), which represents both sexes, was drawn on stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared by Mr. Wolf, and probably represents the same animals as the plate in ‘Zoological Sketches’ above referred to.

_May,_ 1899.

114. THE BEATRIX ANTELOPE.

ORYX BEATRIX, Gray.

[PLATE LXXXII.]

_Gazellæ Indicta cornu singulare_, =Pallas=, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop.
xiii. p. 470, pl. x. fig. 5 (1769).

_Antilope leucoryx_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 17 (1777); =Herm.=
Tab. Affin. Anim. p. 108 (1783); =Zimm.= Geogr. Ges. ii. p. 108
(1780), iii. p. 269 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvi. B (1784);
=Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 139 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p.
190 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 316 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr.
i. p. 639 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Bechst.=
Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 641 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt.
2, p. 359 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 115 (1806); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (1) xvii. p. 132 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =G.
Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 237 (1804); =Tiedem.= Zool. i. p. 408
(1808); =Thunb.= Mém. Acad. Pétersb. iii. p. 313 (1811); =G. Fisch.=
Zoogn. iii. p. 425 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 204 (1816); =G. Cuv.= R. A. i. p.
262 (1817); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1180 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv.
Thierr. i. p. 391 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 474 (1822); =Desmoul.=
Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 444 (1822); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p.
186, v. p. 326 (1827); =Rüpp.= N. Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Pearson=,
J. As. Soc. Bengal, ix. p. 519 (1840).

_Leucoryx Antelope_, =Penn.= Quadr. i. p. 68 (1781); id. ibid. 1793, p.
76 (not fig.).

_Antilope (Bubalis) oryx_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 156 (1814).

_Cemas oryx_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 734 (1816).

_Cerophorus (Oryx) leucoryx_, =De Blainville=, Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816,
p. 75.

_Antilope besoarctica_, =Jard.= Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 203 (1842);
=Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 120, pl. xxxvii. (1845).

_Antilope ensicornis_, var. α _asiatica_, =Wagner=, Schr. Säug. Suppl.
v. p. 437 (1855).

_Oryx beatrix_, =Gray=, P.Z.S. 1857, p. 157, pl. lv.; =id.= Cat. Rum. B.
M. p. 36 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 112 (1873); =Sclater=,
P.Z.S. 1872, p. 603; =St. John=, P.Z.S. 1874, p. 95; =Sclater=, P.Z.S.
1881, p. 819; =id.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 138 (1883), (9) p. 159
(1896); =W. Sclater=, Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 156 (1891); =Flow.
& Lyd.= Mamm. p. 344 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 148 (1892), (2)
p. 188 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 249 (1893); =Matsch.= SB.
nat. Freund. 1893, p. 104; =Thomas=, P.Z.S. 1894, p. 451;
=Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896); =Trouessart=, Cat.
Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 955 (1898).

_Antilope beatrix_, =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) ix. p. 61 (1887).

_Oryx Leucoryx Pallasi_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869).

Vernacular Names:—_El Walrush_ and _El Bukrus_ of Bahrein Arabs
(_Pennant_).

Height at withers about 35 inches. Prevailing colour of body, neck, and head a dirty white, slightly darker on the haunches. On the face the frontal and nasal patches are brown in colour and sometimes separated from each other; the brown stripe that passes from the eye unites with the stripe that arises near the base of the ear to form on the cheek a large patch which extends below the jaw and joins across the inter-ramal area with the corresponding patch of the opposite side; from this patch a narrow brown stripe runs along the throat, and is traceable as far as the chest, which is also brown. Ears whitish; the tip and edges not black or brown. Mane on neck whitish like the rest of the body, and there is no median dorsal black stripe. Tail white; the tuft black at the end. Fore leg from the shoulder, and hind leg from the thigh, deep brown, both on the outer and inner side down to the fetlocks; pasterns white. A faint brown longitudinal stripe is traceable on each side between the belly and the flanks. Hair along spine reversed from rump.

Horns long, straight, attaining a length of about 25 inches; ribbed for about two-thirds of their length; the ribs small and close-set.

_Female._ Similar to the male, and horns equally long or longer.

_Hab._ Southern Arabia, to the shores of Persian Gulf.

As we have already pointed out, it is highly probable, if not certain, that the _Antilope leucoryx_ of Pallas and his immediate successors was the present species and not the preceding, which, however, is now universally known as “The Leucoryx.” In the description of his _Antilope leucoryx_ (which forms the sixteenth species in his second memoir on the genus _Antilope_ published in 1777) Pallas affords us so little information that not much can be made of it. He gives “Arabia, and perhaps Libya,” as its locality, and adds references to the passage in the ‘Cynegetica’ of Oppian which we have already quoted, and to “_Gazellæ Indicæ cornu singulare_”—a “curious horn of an Indian Gazelle” which he had described in a former memoir on some fossil bones from Siberia. On referring to this memoir, and to the figure by which it is accompanied, we cannot say that we are by any means satisfied that the “curious horn” in question, which is remarkable for its length and slenderness (33 inches long, as given by Pallas) and for its numerous annulations, belonged to the present species. We will, however, go so far as to allow that it may possibly have done so. At any rate we must admit that it could hardly have been a horn of the Antelope which we now call the Leucoryx.

The second original authority to describe the present species was our countryman Pennant in his ‘History of Quadrupeds,’ where he gives the “Leucoryx” as the fifth species of his genus “Antelope.” Pennant based his Leucoryx mainly upon “two drawings of animals in the British Museum, taken from life in 1712 by order of Sir John Lock, Agent of the East India Company at Ispahan; they were preserved as rarities by the Shah of Persia in a park eight leagues from the capital.” Pennant informs us that he had copied his description of these animals from a paper accompanying the drawings. This species, he tells us, inhabits “Gaw Behrein, an island in the Gulf of Bassorah,” meaning, no doubt, what we now call Bahrein Island in the Persian Gulf. Judging from the description and locality it would appear that Pennant’s “Leucoryx” of 1781 was intended for the present Antelope, but the figure in the edition of Pennant’s work of 1793, it must be allowed, gives one rather the idea of a Beisa (_Oryx beisa_).

As regards the other authors which we have quoted above as following Pallas in calling this animal _Antilope leucoryx_, it is not necessary to take much trouble about them. They merely repeat the stories of their predecessors without adding anything original thereto, and seem to have had no true ideas of the distinctness of the present species from its allies. It was not, in fact, until 1857 that the present Antelope became properly known to science in Europe by the receipt of living specimens. The first of these was brought from Bombay to England in that year and presented to the Zoological Society of London by Capt. John Shepherd. This animal, which was at first supposed to be a half-grown specimen of the Gemsbok of the Cape, quickly attracted the notice of the late Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, who had a capital eye for strange mammals of all sorts. Dr. Gray immediately recognized it as belonging to a species unknown to him, and, having apparently no suspicion that it was possibly the veritable “Leucoryx” of the older authors, described it as new at a Scientific Meeting of the Zoological Society held on June 23rd of that year, at which Sclater (then recently elected a member of the Council) well recollects having been himself present, and proposed to call it _Oryx beatrix_, after H.R.H. The Princess Beatrice. Dr. Gray’s description, published in the ‘Proceedings,’ is accompanied by an excellent coloured figure of the Beatrix Antelope drawn by Wolf. Dr. Gray conjectured that the specimen had been brought to Bombay from the shores of the Red Sea, but it is more probable that it was carried there from the Persian Gulf. The typical specimen, which died shortly afterwards, was deposited in the British Museum.

In March 1872 a second specimen of the Beatrix Antelope was received by the Zoological Society, and fortunately with sufficient information to solve the enigma as to its real _patria_. It was the survivor of a pair of these animals, obtained for the late Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.Z.S., by Col. Pelly, then British Resident at Bushire on the Persian Gulf. In 1878 a third living specimen of this Antelope, a male, was received by the Zoological Society; this was presented by Commander F. M. Burke, of the B.I.S.N.S.S. ‘Arcot,’ by whom it had been obtained at Jeddah in the Red Sea from a friend who had received it as a present from the Shereif of Mecca. It was stated to have been originally captured in the neighbourhood of Tyeff or Tayf, in the Hedjaz Passes, some 150 miles east of the Red Sea. In 1881 two additional specimens of the Beatrix Antelope were presented to the same Society by the late Lord Lilford, and since that date three other examples of the same animal have been received alive by the Zoological Society. These were a pair presented by Col. E. C. Ross, C.S.I., H.B.M. Consul at Bushire, in 1890, and a single female presented by Lt.-Col. Talbot in 1892.

The typical specimen of _Oryx beatrix_, as already mentioned, is in the collection of the British Museum, as is also the adult female transmitted to the Zoological Society by Col. Pelly. Besides these, the National Collection possesses a skeleton of a young female obtained on the Persian Gulf by Mr. B. T. ffinch, F.Z.S., and some skins and skulls collected in Muscat by Dr. A. S. G. Jayakar, C.M.Z.S. Specimens of the Beatrix Antelope are, however, excessively rare in European collections, and we are not aware that any of the continental museums have succeeded in obtaining specimens of it.

From what has been stated it is evident that the range of the Beatrix Antelope reaches from the shores of the Red Sea across Southern Arabia to Muscat. How far up the coast of the Persian Gulf it extends is uncertain, but the specimens stated by Pennant to have been brought to Ispahan from the Bahrein Islands had probably been obtained from the opposite mainland.

Our figure of this Antelope (Plate LXXXII.) was put upon the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch prepared under Sir Victor Brooke’s directions by Mr. J. Wolf. This was _probably_ taken from the same animal as that figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ as above mentioned.

_May_, 1899.

115. THE GEMSBOK.

ORYX GAZELLA (Linn.).

[PLATE LXXXIII.]

_Gazella Indica cornibus rectis longissimis nigris_, =Ray=, Quadr. p. 79
(1693).

_Capra gazella_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i. p. 96
(1766); =Müll.= Natursyst. i. p. 412 (1773).

_Antilope recticornis_, =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 272 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 78 (1780).

_Gazella recticornis_, =Pallas=, Nov. Comm. Ac. Petrop. xiii. p. 468.

_Antilope bezoartica_, =Pallas=, Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766) (nec Linn.);
=Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 55 (1776); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p.
538 (1777); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 79 (1780).

_Antilope oryx_, =Pallas=, Spic. Zool. fasc. xii. pp. 16 & 61 (1777);
=Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 107 (1780); =Herm.= Tabl. Affin. Anim. p.
108 (1783); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclvii. (1784); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim.
p. 139 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 189 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An.
K. p. 315 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 636 (1792); =Link=,
Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Dandin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p.
182 (1799); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 312 (1801); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat.
p. 114 (1806); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 425 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act.
Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1177 (1818);
=Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 391 (1821); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H.
N. i. p. 444 (1822); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 473 (1822); =Burch.=
Travels, ii. p. 23 (1824); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827);
=Fischer=, Syn. Mamm. p. 478 (1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 71
(1832); =Rüpp.= Neue Wirbelth. p. 16 (1835); =Wagn.= Säugeth. v. p.
1177 (1836); =Waterh.= Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); =Oken=,
Allg. Nat. vii. p. 139 (1838); Laurill. Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617
(1847); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 476 (1844); =id.= v. p. 436
(1855); =Reichenb.= Säug. iii. p. 121, pl. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=,
Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 434 (1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 31, pl. xxxv.
(1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 294 (1853); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4)
iv. p. 483 (1887).

_Oryx capensis_, =Ogilby=, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 139; =A. Sm.= S. Afr.
Quart. J. ii. p. 187 (1834); =Harr.= Wild Anim. S. Afr. p. 38, pl. ix.
(1840); =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 207 (1847); =id.=
Hornsch. Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint, p. 81
(1848); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. p. 178 (1869); =Buckley=, P. Z. S.
1876, p. 289, 1877, p. 455; =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 230 (1880);
=Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 292 (1889); =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm.
fasc. iv. p. 953 (1898).

_Onyx onyx_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821).

_Antilope gazella_, =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 380 (1844).

_Antilope (Bubalis) oryx_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 155 (1814).

_Antilope pasan_, =Daudin=, in Lacépède’s Buffon, xiv. p. 182 (1799).

_Cemas pasan_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 741 (1816).

_Cerophorus (Oryx) oryx_, =De Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.

_Oryx gazella_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 156 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag.
Nat. Hist. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 58
(1847); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17 (1850);
=id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 105 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
240 (1862); =Sclater=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604; =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M.
p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104 (1873); =Drumm.= Large
Game S. Afr. p. 426 (1875); =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 755; =id.=
Hunter’s Wanderings in S. Afr. p. 212; =Bocage=, J. Sci. Lisboa, (2)
v. p. 26 (1890) (Benguela); =W. Sclater=, Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p.
155 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. (1)
p. 143 (1892), (2) p. 184 (1896); =Nicols & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
49 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 246 (1893).

_Oryx oryx_, =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 135
(1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 166
(1892); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 102; =Pousargues=, Ann.
Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896).

Vernacular Names:—_Gemsbok_ of the Dutch at the Cape; _Gemsbuck_ of
English; _Kukama_ of Bechuanas and Makalakas; _Ko_ of the Masuras
(_Selous_). _Uhlaza_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Gallengue_ in Benguela
(_Bocage_).

Height at withers about 48 inches. General colour of neck and body pale greyish tawny. Head with a black frontal patch at the base of the horns and a large patch of the same colour upon the nose, the two united by a narrow black line. Above the eye is a black stripe extending to the base of the horn, and below the eye a broad stripe passes downwards towards the corner of the mouth and, uniting with the nasal patch, spreads below on to the underside of the jaw; there is also a black stripe running from near the base of the ear along the line where the cheek passes into the neck and expanding on the lower part of the cheek fuses with the lower extremity of the ocular stripe, and contributes to the formation of the broad black area that occupies nearly the whole of the inter-ramal space. Muzzle, chin, and lips white. Ears with tip and the adjacent edges black. From the dark inter-ramal area to the chest extends a black stripe along the throat; the hairs of this region long, forming a mane, which at one spot near the middle of the throat is produced into a pointed crest or beard. Mane of nape blackish; a black line traceable along the back as far as the rump. Rump black or clouded with black above, the black extending on to the root of the tail, the tuft of which is entirely black. Along the sides of the body above the belly, which is white, extends a broad black stripe, continuous in front with the black area of the chest and passing behind on to the lower part of the thigh, where it expands into a broad black patch covering the outer side of the hind leg as far as the hock and spreading round the leg on its inner side. Hind legs below the hocks nearly white, except for a longitudinal black stripe on the front of the cannon-bone. Fore legs white below knee, with a black spot or stripe on the front of the cannon-bone; above the knee on the outer and inner side the leg is black almost up to the shoulder, but on the inner side it is sometimes white above, the white area extending for a short distance on to the front of the leg at its base.

Horns nearly straight, rarely attaining a length of about 47 inches, more commonly less than 40. A skull has the following dimensions:—Basal length 14·5 inches, eye to nose 10, greatest width 6·25.

_Female_ similar to the male, but slighter, with longer and more slender horns, which are less distinctly ringed and sometimes slightly bent.

_Hab._ Arid deserts of South-west Africa, from Bechuanaland
north to Mossamedes.

The Dutch colonists who settled at the Cape in the course of the seventeenth century named the principal Antelopes which they met with there after the animals in Europe that they supposed to be their closest allies, or to be most nearly similar to them, but in many cases very inappropriately. Thus the “Eland” received its name from the Elk (_Alces machlis_), the “Reh-bok” from the Roe (_Capreolus caprœa_), and the present Antelope from the Chamois or Gemse of the Alps (_Rupicapra tragus_), although in all these cases it is difficult to discern much resemblance between the European species and the South-African animals which were called after them.

Nevertheless the term “Gemsbok” has stuck to the Oryx of the Cape, and is still a familiar name for this beautiful Antelope both among the Dutch and the English in South Africa. As we have already shown, it is the type, or at any rate the first species, of de Blainville’s genus _Oryx_, and that must be its generic name, but to decide what term should be selected as its proper specific name is by no means an easy task.

The “_Capra gazella_” of the tenth and twelfth editions of Linnæus’s ‘Systema Naturæ’ has been held by many authors to refer to this species, whereas Pallas and his followers called the Leucoryx “_Antilope gazella_” and the present species “_Antilope oryx_” Modern writers have mostly called the Gemsbok either “_Oryx capensis_, Ogilby” (a name that is undoubtedly applicable to it), or “_Oryx gazella_” or “_Oryx oryx_” Of these three names we think we are justified in selecting the Linnæan “_gazella_” which has undoubted priority. It is true that Linnæus’s species is based mainly on Ray’s very imperfectly described “_Gazella Indica cornibus rectis longissimis nigris_,” and that its “habitat” is given as “India.” But Pallas himself quotes Linnæus’s _Capra gazella_ as a synonym of his “_Antilope oryx_”—so that we cannot justly use the latter term even if it were not the same as the generic name. It may also be urged that traditionally at least Linnæus’s term “_gazella_” has usually been acknowledged to refer to this species, which we therefore propose to designate _Oryx gazella_.

As may be gathered from what has been already stated, most of the older authors had no clear ideas as to the differences between this and the two preceding Antelopes, which they only knew from imperfect specimens, and did not even realize that their areas of distribution are in every case perfectly distinct. We must, however, make one exception from this statement. In the Dutch edition of Buffon’s ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published by Schneider at Amsterdam, to which we have had occasion more than once to refer, there will be found a very recognizable figure of the Gemsbok, which the author identifies, perhaps correctly, with the “Pasan” of Buffon. Allamand’s figure was taken from a skin received from the Cape of Good Hope, and is accompanied by a full and fairly accurate description. Both the figure and description of Allamand were reprinted by Buffon in the sixth volume of his ‘Supplement’ to the ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ published at Paris in 1782. Allamand’s figure was again copied by Schreber on plate cclvii. of his ‘Säugethiere,’ which is believed to have been issued (long before the letterpress) in 1784. It is there named “_Antilope oryx_, Pallas,” as is also the case in the accompanying letterpress, issued in 1836, and in Wagner’s supplementary volumes of the ‘Säugethiere,’ in which the plate of this Antelope, published in 1848, is apparently also an improved copy of Allamand’s original figure.

We will now turn to some of the chief authorities on the Natural History of the Cape, and see what we can learn from them as to the habits and exact distribution of the present animal, of which the systematists tell us very little. Sparrman, who was in South Africa in 1772 and the following years, after commenting on the unsuitable appellation applied to it, says that the Gemsbok is in all probability peculiar to the north-western part of the Colony, for that in the country which he traversed, which was mainly east from Cape Town, he neither saw nor heard anything of it. But its remarkable horns were not at that period scarce in collections at Cape Town. Patterson, about 1790, met with the Gemsbok in Clanwilliam; and Barrow, about ten years later, seems to have come across it in Willowmore. Lichtenstein, in the second volume of his travels (1812), notes the occurrence of the Gemsbok in the Hopetown District, and writes of it as _Antilope oryx_. Steedman, whose ‘Wanderings in South Africa’ were published in 1835, devotes considerable attention to this animal and gives a good figure of it (vol. ii. p. 55) from specimens obtained on the farm of Stoffel Jacobs, near Bushman’s Poorte, just south of the Orange River.

We now come to the epoch of the celebrated traveller Sir William Cornwallis Harris, who penetrated far into the interior of South Africa in 1836 and 1837. On plate ix. of his ‘Portraits’ Harris gives excellent figures accompanied by full descriptions of both sexes of the Gemsbok, which he met with on the Moloppo and Modder Rivers in Bechuanaland, and in the adjoining districts of the Orange Free State. We extract the following passages from Harris’s lively chapter on this Antelope:—

“The South-African Oryx is a most wild and warlike-looking animal,
not less remarkable for beauty, speed, and vigour, than famed for
the excellence of its venison, which is everywhere held in the
highest estimation. Although usually found in pairs on the Karroos
and unfrequented stony districts, which form its invariable
habitation, the males sometimes possess two females, constituting,
with their young, a family of five or six individuals. The calves,
which are born of a reddish cream colour, become whiter as they
increase in bulk, and are easily domesticated; but their uncertain
temper renders it difficult at any time to pronounce them tame.
Their horns, at first blunt and round at the tips, are soon ground
to a fine needle-like point, by dint of raking and whetting them
against rough-stemmed trees,—thus becoming most formidable
weapons, whether of offence or defence. The horns of the females
are much longer and more _bodkinish_ in appearance than those of
the males, who never meet during the rutting season without
desperate battles, their courage and quarrelsome disposition
frequently rendering their duels fatal, one of the combatants
often being run slap through the body by a lunge from the long
rapier-resembling weapons of his antagonist. The natives of
Southern Africa occasionally arm their spears with the horns of
the Oryx; and the Hollanders of the Cape have them polished and
headed with silver, to serve as walking-sticks, for which purpose
they are frequently too long! Strong, active, and vigorous, the
Gemsbok boldly defends itself when pressed by the hunter, using
its horns with amazing energy and address, by striking right and
left at its assailant with prodigious violence. Oppian, the modern
Arabs of the desert, and the Hottentots, are all agreed in
describing the danger of approaching these animals before they are
totally disabled.”

A few years later another well-known sportsman, Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, arrived in South Africa and commenced the five years of his ‘Hunter’s Life,’ of which he has given to the world such a vivid description. Cumming first met with the Gemsbok in December 1843 in the “vast Karroo plains” west of Colesberg, where it was abundant at that epoch. He describes some of its chief peculiarities as follows:—

“The Gemsbok was destined by nature to adorn the parched karroos
and arid deserts of South Africa, for which description of country
it is admirably adapted. It thrives and attains high condition in
barren regions, where it might be imagined that a locust would not
find subsistence, and, burning as is its climate, it is perfectly
independent of water, which, from my own observation and the
repeated reports both of the Boers and aborigines, I am convinced
it never by any chance tastes. Its flesh is deservedly esteemed,
and ranks next to the Eland. At certain seasons of the year they
carry a great quantity of fat, at which time they can be more
easily ridden into. Owing to the even nature of the ground which
the Oryx frequents, its shy and suspicious disposition, and the
extreme distances from water to which it must be followed, it is
never stalked or driven to an ambush like other Antelopes, but is
hunted on horseback, and ridden down by a long, severe, tail-on-
end chase. Of several animals in South Africa which are hunted in
this manner, and may be ridden into by a horse, the Oryx is by far
the swiftest and most enduring.”

In his ‘Hunter’s Wanderings’ Mr. Selous gives us an excellent account of the range of the Gemsbok about twenty years ago. He says (p. 212):—

“The Gemsbuck is almost entirely confined to the arid deserts of
South-western Africa. In the Kalahari desert, to the west of
Griqualand West, it is fairly plentiful, and on the road leading
along the eastern border of the desert from Kuruman to Bamangwato
it is occasionally to be met with, becoming plentiful if one
penetrates into the waterless country to the westward, but being
unknown to the eastward, of the road. Along the waggon-road
leading from Bamangwato to Tati there are a few Gemsbuck above
Pelatsi, Serule, and Goqui, and they are sometimes to be met with
on the upper course of the Macloutsi, Shashi, and Tati rivers. A
few sometimes even wander as far eastwards as the Ramokwebani
river. On the road leading from Tati to the Zambesi Gemsbuck are
not often met with, but a few are occasionally to be seen in the
neighbourhood of Thammasanka and Thammasetsi. A little farther
westwards, however, in the neighbourhood of the great saltpans,
they are numerous, as they are also in all the country between the
saltpans and the Botletlie river, whilst to the west of that
river, right through the desert into Damaraland, they are said to
run in large herds. Where I have met with them, the country has
either been open or covered with stunted bush, and along the
waggon-road from Bamangwato to the Mābābe their northern range
seems to be limited by the heavily-timbered sand-belts, which run
east and west immediately to the south of that river, and into
which the Gemsbuck does not penetrate. North of the Mābābe, in the
direction of the Chobe, although many parts of the country appear
well fitted for it, the Gemsbuck is unknown.

“So far as my experience goes, the Gemsbuck is far from being the
fleetest or most enduring Antelope in South Africa, and in these
respects cannot be compared to the Tsessebe or Hartebeest. I do
not think it is either fleeter or more enduring than the Sable or
Roan Antelope; and I have myself run one to a standstill without
firing a shot, and I know of several other men having done the
same thing. The horns of the cow become longer than those of the
bull, as a rule; the longest pair of the former I have ever seen
measured 3 feet 10½ inches, and of the latter 3 feet 6 inches,”

Mr. H. A. Bryden, writing in 1889, describes the Gemsbok as then “very nearly extinct in the Cape Colony.” Seven or eight years previously two of the last had been shot in the north of Calvinia, near the banks of the Orange River.

Mr. W. L. Sclater, Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town, writing of the present distribution of the Gemsbok in South Africa, informs us that, according to the statistics of the Agricultural Department, there are about 5000 Gemsboks still existing in Bechuanaland between Namaqualand and Kenhart. There are also said to be plenty of these Antelopes still to be found throughout the German South-west African territory and the western part of the Kalahari Desert. North of German South-west Africa, we know from Capello and Ivens, and other Portuguese authorities, that the Gemsbok is also found in Mossamedes and in the adjoining arid districts of Southern Angola.

The Gemsbok is very rarely seen in captivity, and we are not aware that living examples of it have ever been brought to Europe. Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, who has had great experience in such matters, informs us that he has never seen this animal alive.

There is a fine mounted pair of the Gemsbok in the Gallery of the British Museum, obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous in the Bamangwato District of Bechuanaland, and a frontlet and horns procured by the same enterprising hunter on the Botletli River. Besides these there are several older stuffed specimens, as also some heads and skins, of which the exact localities are unknown.

Our figure of the Gemsbok (Plate LXXXIII.) was drawn on the stone by Mr. Smit from Mr. Wolf’s sketch, but it is, unfortunately, impossible to ascertain from what specimen it was taken.

_May_, 1899.

116. THE BEISA.

ORYX BEISA (Rüpp.).

[PLATE LXXXIV.]

_Leucoryx Antelope_, =Penn.= Quadr. i. pl. xii. (1793) (not description)
(?).

“_Antilope dammah_ der Araber,” =Cretzschm.= Atl. Rüpp. Reise, p. 22
(footnote) (1826) (?), whence

_Antilope dammah_, =Rüpp.= Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829).

_Antilope beisa_, =Rüpp.= N. Wirb. Abyss. p. 14, pl. v. (1835); =Oken=, Allg.
Naturg. vii. p. 1392 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 617 (1841);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 477 (1844), v. p. 436 (1855); =Reichenb.=
Säug. iii. p. 123, pi. xxxviii. (1845); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 436
(1845); =id.= Mon. Antil. p. 33, pi. xxxvii. (1848); =Huet=, Bull. Soc.
Acclim. (4) iv. p. 71 (1887).

_Oryx beisa_, =Sund.= Pecora K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844, p. 207 (1846);
=id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 157; Reprint,
p. 81 (1848); =Gray=, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 134; =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 17
(1850); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 106 (1852); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 17 (1863); =Fitz.= SB. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869); =Blanf.= Zool. Abyss. p. 262 (1870);
=Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 35 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 104
(1873); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1872, p. 604, 1874, p. 323, 1875, p. 633;
=Heugl.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 111 (1877); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 231
(1880); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1881, p. 626, pl. liv. (adult and young);
=id.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 139, fig. 19 (1883), (9) p. 159 (1896);
=Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 262 (1884); =Lort Phillips=,
P. Z. S. 1885, p. 931; =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 155
(1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 343 (1891); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1891, p.
207; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1892, p. 102; =Swayne=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 300;
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 146 (1892), (2) p. 186 (1896); =Lyd.= Horns
and Hoofs, p. 247 (1893); =Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1893, p. 103;
=Swayne=, Seventeen Trips to Somaliland, p. 298 (1895); =Rhoads=, P.
Ac. Philad. 1896, p. 519; =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131
(1896); =Elliot=, Publ. Chicago Mus. Zool. i. p. 130 (1897);
=Neumann=, Elephant-Hunting, p. 363 (1898) (Lake Rudolf);
=Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv. p. 954 (1898).

_Oryx biessa_, =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846).

Vernacular Names:—_Beisa_ of Arabs at Massowa (_Rüppell_); _Beida_
(_Heuglin_); _Baet_ of Somalis (_Swayne_); _Ari_ of Danakils
(_Heuglin_).

Height at withers about 46 inches. Colour of neck and body a tolerably uniform tawny. Head and throat with the same ornamentation of black stripes and patches as in the preceding species, but the nose-patch does not spread so far laterally, and does not fuse with the lower extremity of the stripe that runs from the eye; this stripe also stops short at a point about on a level with the corner of the mouth, and is not produced inferiorly on to the lower side of the jaw; thus the whitish muzzle is not surrounded by a complete black ring as is the case in _O. gazella_, and there is less black on the inter-ramal area and on the upper end of the throat. Hair of throat not produced to form a mane or beard. Ears black at tip and on rim as in _O. gazella_. Black spinal stripe more sharply defined than in that species and extending from a point near the middle of the rump; hind-quarters of the same colour as the body and neck, there being no black patch on the rump and none on the lower half of the thighs. The black stripe that passes backwards from the chest along the side of the body above the white belly is narrower than in _O. gazella_, and is not continued on to the thighs. Hind legs whitish, not black above the hocks, and without a black spot on front of the cannon-bone, but stained with black above the false hoofs and below the hocks. Fore legs whitish, banded as in _O. gazella_, but the stripe above the knee narrower and only extending about halfway up to the shoulder on the outer side, and to the chest on the inner. Tail-tuft black. Hairs along the neck and spine lying forwards, the parting situated on the rump.

Horns nearly straight, ribbed in their basal half; about 36 or 37 inches in length, often only about 30.

A skull gives the following measurements:—Basal length 14 inches, orbit to nose 12·75, greatest width 5·75.

_Female._ Similar to the male, but horns rather longer and thinner.

_Hab._ Western shores of the Red Sea from Suakin southwards to
Danakilland; Somaliland and British East Africa north of the Tana.

The famous traveller and naturalist, Dr. Eduard Rüppell, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, whose name we have already frequently mentioned in this work, was the discoverer of this fine Antelope, which he met with in 1832 on the coast of the Red Sea west of Massowa, and subsequently described and figured in his ‘Neue Wirbelthiere.’ Rüppell called this animal “_Beisa_” after the native name by which it was known to the Arabs of the district, and at the same time attempted to identify it with an Antelope which he had heard of but not obtained seven years previously in Dongola, there known as the “_Dammah_.” But, as Heuglin has pointed out, it seems by no means certain that the “_Beisa_” of the coastland of Abyssinia is the same as the “_Dammah_” of Dongola. Although, therefore, the name “_dammah_” as will be seen by our list of synonyms, was published by Cretzschmar and Fischer before Rüppell’s “_beisa_” it would be neither just nor reasonable upon this uncertain plea to deprive Rüppell, who certainly supplied the first recognizable description of it, of the name of this species.

Rüppell informs us that the Beisa in his time (about 1832) was not uncommon in the low-country at the back of Massowa, and extended northwards along the coast to Suakin. It was usually found in small families in the flat valleys which are slightly grassed, and was said to be fleet and shy, being much persecuted by the Turkish soldiers then in garrison at Massowa.

Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., met with this Antelope in the same district during the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867–68, and, in his volume on the ‘Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia,’ writes as follows:—

“On returning from the interior I stopped for three days at a
halting-place in the semi-desert north of Massowa, and succeeded
in shooting four of these superb and rare Antelopes. All were
females; but there is little, if any, difference in the sexes,
both having equally fine horns.

“The Beisa is found singly or in small herds, rarely exceeding ten
in number, in the somewhat hilly barren country near the sea-
coast. They are said to keep to the more hilly parts of Samhar.
Near Annesley Bay, where the country is more wooded, this Antelope
does not occur, but it abounds farther south in the Somali
country, and the horns are brought in considerable numbers to Aden
and Berbera. They are used as weapons by the Somalis.

“The principal food of the Oryx near Massowa is a coarse grass,
almost resembling a diminutive bamboo. They appear to be grazers
rather than browsers, although, like all Antelopes, they
occasionally eat the young shoots of Acacia and other trees. They
are quite diurnal in their habits, feeding in the morning and
evening, in this respect resembling the Gazelles, to which they
are unquestionably closely allied. When we were in the Samhar
country in July and August, the Oryx drank apparently every day,
always coming to the water about one or two o’clock. It is
probable that they drink less regularly in cold weather.

“The appearance of a herd of Oryx is very imposing. They are some
of the most elegant and symmetrical of animals, their motions
being those of a wild horse rather than of an Antelope. Their
favourite pace appears to be either a steady quick walk or a trot;
they rarely break into a gallop unless greatly alarmed. When
frightened, they dash off, sometimes snorting and putting their
heads down as if charging, raising their long tails, and looking
very formidable. They are wary animals, though far less so than
some other Antelopes.

“Like the Gazelles and true Antelopes, all equally inhabitants of
deserts and open plains, the Oryx has a pointed foot, each of the
divisions being rudely triangular. Its tracks may consequently be
instantly distinguished from those of cattle or of any of the
bovine Antelopes. So far as my acquaintance with the family goes,
most of the forest and bush-hunting Antelopes—Koodoo, Nylgai,
_Tetraceros_—have their feet formed like those of the _Cervidæ_,
with rounded hoofs, whilst the Antelopes of the plain, and
especially desert forms, have pointed hoofs.”

Heuglin met with this Antelope further south on the Danakil coast of the Red Sea, and also in Northern Somaliland, where he states that it resorts to the more open sandy districts beset with low bushes (_Salvadora_), occasionally retreating into the lower hills.

But in Somaliland we have excellent accounts of its habits and distribution from modern observers—of whom we will first quote Captain Swayne, the leading authority on the game-animals of that country.

Writing of the Antelopes in his ‘Seventeen Trips through Somaliland,’ Col. Swayne sums up his great experience of the Beisa as follows:—

“The Oryx of Somaliland is a very stoutly-built, bovine Antelope,
standing as high as a donkey, and inhabits open stony ground, or
barren hills, or open grass plains. It is fairly common and very
widely distributed over the Somali country, and it may be found in
all kinds of country except in the thick jungle with aloe
undergrowth (which is so much liked by the Lesser Koodoo), and the
cedar-forests on the higher ranges. The best Oryx ground is in the
Haud and in Ogádén.

“The Oryx feeds chiefly on grass, and is often found very far from
water. It has a keen sight, and probably protects itself more by
this than by its sense of hearing or scent. Oryxes are found in
herds of from half a dozen to thirty or forty, chiefly composed of
cows. Bull Oryxes are found wandering singly all over the country,
and possibly these make up in number for the preponderance of cows
in the herds.

“Sometimes two or three cows with growing calves will be found
together, making up a small herd of half a dozen. It is nearly
impossible to distinguish which are the bulls in a herd, and they
are so few in proportion to the cows that it is best, if shooting
for sport alone, not to fire at a herd at all. The bull is
slightly thicker in the neck and higher in the withers than the
cow; and the horns, though an inch or two shorter in the bull, are
more massive, especially about the base, and more symmetrical,
whilst the cow’s horns are frequently bent and of unequal length.
The Oryx is often revengeful when wounded and brought to bay;
twice I have seen a wounded one make a determined charge into a
mob of Somális armed with spears.

“The Midgáns, who are armed with bows and poisoned arrows, hunt
the Oryx with packs of savage yellow pariah-dogs. The thick skin
round the withers of a bull is made by them into a white _gáshan_
or fighting shield. The method of hunting, as carried out by the
Midgáns in the Bulhár Plain, is as follows:—Three or four of them,
with about fifteen dogs, go out just before dawn, and walk along
silently through the scattered thorn-trees till fresh tracks are
found, and these are followed till the game is sighted. By
throwing stones, whistling, and other signs which the dogs
understand, they are shown the herd, and settle down to their
work. The dogs run mute, the men following at a crouching trot,
which in a Somáli is untiring; and this lasts until the dogs open
in chorus, having brought the game to bay. The Oryxes make
repeated charges at the dogs, which, they often wound or kill. If
the latter can avoid the sharp horns of the mother they fasten on
to a calf, and sometimes the whole herd will charge to the rescue.
The Midgáns run up silently under cover of the bushes and let off
a flight of poisoned arrows into the herd, which, seeing the human
enemy, takes to flight. Frequently an animal wounded by a poisoned
arrow takes a line of its own, and is in due time carefully
followed up and found dead, or it may be pulled down in its weak
state by the dogs,”

Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his report on the collection of the Mammals of Somaliland made for the Field-Columbian Museum of Chicago in 1896, writes of the Beisa as follows:—

“Oryxes are not often seen in the country north of the Golis
Range, but their numbers increase as the Haud is traversed, and on
the south of Toyo and in Ogaden they are plentiful. At a distance
it is impossible to distinguish the bulls from the cows, as both
carry horns, those of the cows more slender and usually longer
than the average of bulls’ horns. But this difference in size is
not perceptible unless one is very close to the animals. The horns
are annulated for two-thirds their length, then become smooth, and
end in a sharp point. The average lengths of bulls’ horns are not
much over 30 inches, although occasionally specimens are obtained
that are several inches longer, and the cows’ horns sometimes
reach a length of 37 or 38 inches. They are very formidable
weapons, and it is dangerous to approach a wounded Oryx. In
charging its enemy the Oryx puts its head low down between its
fore legs, with the horns pointed forward not much above the
ground, and rushes at the object of its hate with much swiftness.
These lance-like horns are quite capable of passing entirely
through the body of an animal. Oryxes seem to be quite independent
of water, and are often seen many miles from any place where it
could be procured. They frequent the waterless, treeless plains,
such as Toyo, Silo, &c., in herds sometimes of large size, and
subsist upon the harsh dry grass common in such localities. The
skin of a bull is very thick on the neck and withers, in, some
cases as much as three-quarters of an inch through. The natives
select this part of the hide to make their shields, which are
sufficiently tough to stop any spear or arrow. As the bulls are
very pugnacious, no doubt their tough thick hides are a great
protection against the lance-like horns, and save them from being
run through this vital portion of the body.”

Mr. Elliot’s expedition brought home twelve specimens of the Beisa of both sexes and of various ages from the Toyo Plain, Hullier, Bodeleh, the Silo Plain, the Haud, and the Ogaden Country. But he tells us that this fine animal is already practically extinct north of the Golis Range, and can only be found in any numbers in the southern portion of the Haud and in the country beyond.

Mr. J. Benett Stanford, F.Z.S., a well-known sportsman in Somaliland, tells us a curious story about this Antelope. On one occasion when shooting in that country he killed a female Beisa, and, leaving his men to skin her, went on in pursuit of other game. On his return to the camp, late in the afternoon, he found a young Beisa frolicking about, and was greeted by one of the party with the words “How _did_ you catch it?” It appeared that the men had cut the young animal out from the dead mother, and found it perfectly formed in every respect. This young Antelope lived with the caravan for several months, and was eventually killed by an accident.

The following extract from Capt. Francis B. Pearce’s recently published ‘Rambles in Lion-Land’ will show that, notwithstanding the persecutions of the numerous sportsmen who now visit the Somaliland Protectorate every winter, the Beisa is as yet by no means an extinct animal in the interior of that attractive country:—

“We struck camp after having spent a very successful week on the
Tyuli Hills, and turned our faces south _en route_ for the zebra-
country. Shortly after leaving camp I saw the largest herd of Oryx
I have ever seen. It is a difficult matter to estimate the number
of a herd of animals unless one possesses some education in that
line, but at the lowest estimate there could not have been less
than five hundred head. This enormous herd galloped past us at a
distance of a little over two hundred yards. It was a beautiful
sight to watch. With glistening coats and horns laid back, they
tore past. Both J—— and I were too fascinated to think of firing.”

The Beisa is well known in the Zoological Gardens of Europe, and has bred in captivity on more than one occasion. The first living example of this Antelope (a male) was received by the Zoological Society of London, as a present from Admiral Cumming, in 1874, and a female was presented by the Sultan of Zanzibar in the following year, from which the figure in the Society’s ‘Garden Guide’ for 1876 (see fig. 94, p. 70) was taken. This made a pair of this animal for the Collection, believed at that time to be the only pair in Europe. In 1877 and 1878 other specimens were obtained. On April 12th, 1881, the first calf was born, and in September 1885 a second calf from the same pair. At the present time there are three representatives of this Oryx in the Society’s Collection, and specimens of it may also be seen in many of the Zoological Gardens on the Continent.

A coloured figure of the first Beisa calf born in the Zoological Society’s Gardens will be found in the ‘Proceedings’ for 1881 (plate liv.).

In the British Museum there is an adult mounted female specimen of the Beisa Antelope, from the Red Sea coast, obtained in 1871. There is also the skull of an adult from the River Juba, obtained by Sir John Kirk and presented by him in 1879, besides other skins and skulls from various parts of Somaliland presented by Mr. W. F. Sinclair, Col. A. Paget, and Capt. Swayne.

Our figure of this species (Plate LXXXIV.) was lithographed by Mr. Smit for Sir Victor Brooke many years ago, and was taken, it is believed, from a specimen in the British Museum.

_May_, 1899.

117. THE TUFTED BEISA.

ORYX CALLOTIS, Thomas.

[PLATE LXXXV.]

_Oryx beisa_, =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 289 (1889).

_Oryx callotis_, =Thomas=, P. Z. S. 1892, p. 195, pl. xiv. (head);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 149 (1892), (2) p. 189 (1896); =True=, Proc.
U.S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 470, pl. lxxxvi. (1892) (full figure); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 248 (1893); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 534 (1893);
=Matsch.= SB. nat. Fr. Berl. 1893, p. 103; =Jackson=, in Badm. Big
Game Shooting, i. p. 293 (1894); =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p.
135 (1895); =Pousargues=, Ann. Sci. Nat. (7) iv. p. 131 (1896);
=Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897, p. 454; =Trouessart=, Cat. Mamm. fasc. iv.
p. 954 (1898).

Vernacular Names:—_Cheroa_ of the Swahilis in Brit. E. Africa
(_Jackson_); _Kiroha_, Swahilis of German East Africa (_Stuhlmann_);
_Muhambura_ in Kirongi (_Stuhlmann_); _Palla-Palla_ or _Kolongo_ in
Uniamuesi (_Matschie_).