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Show 1871.] SPEKE'S A N T E L O P E A N D A L L I E D T R A G E L A P H I . 485 and horns brought by Mr. Green from Lake N'gami, and presented to the British Museum. The result of this comparison is, that I have no doubt that all these specimens belong to one and the same species. With respect to the Biafra specimen, I am confirmed by Capt. Allen's remarks on the subject. He says (P. Z. S. 1848, p. 88), " It was, I should think, about 3 feet high, or rather more, of a darkish brown colour." The locality where he obtained it he describes as "pestiferous and foggy," most truly characteristic of the resorts of this remarkable animal. In still further corroboration of this opinion, I find a horn in the British Museum that I consider unquestionably to belong to this species, labelled " (Parzudaki) Gaboon," also a skin, horns, and feet, beyond any doubt of a Speke's Antelope, which specimen Mr. Gerrard informs me was sent by M . du Chaillu from Gaboon, in 1865, to Mr. John Murray of Albemarle Street, and brought by Mr. Gerrard from Mr. Murray's to the British Museum. Should the distribution of an Antelope so specially adapted to a life amongst swampy and marshy regions be found to extend from the Victoria Nyanza on the east to the Cameroon and Gaboon country on the west, and thence to Lake N'gami on the south, it will, I think, be a matter of some interest, as it will indicate the probability that large parts of unexplored equatorial Africa are suitable to the habits of this lake- and swamp-loving Antelope. The following diagnoses* will, I hope, afford characters for distinguishing these three species of Tragelaphus :- A. Hair of sides smooth and short, striped with white bands, descending from a white dorsal streak. Hoofs short. a. General colour deep chestnut; stripes strongly marked, numerous. Horns smooth, massive. Neck, back, and belly maneless. Tail bovine. Fore limbs with dark markings anteriorly T. euryceros. b. General colour dark bluish grey; stripes few, faintly marked. Horns rough, moderate. Neck, back, and belly maned. Tail cervine and hairy. Fore limbs rich tan below the knees T. angasii. B. Hair of sides coarse and long, without stripes. Hooi's long. c. General colour rusty brown. Neck maned. Horns smooth, slender, strongly keeled. Hair of sides and body of uniform length T. spekii. The synonymy of these three species, so far as I have been able to examine it, appears to stand as follows : - 1. TRAGELAPHUS SPEKII. 1848. Antelope from Bight of Biafra, Allen, P. Z. S. 1848, p. 88. 1850. Strepsiceros, sp. !, Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 171. 1852. Tragelaphus euryceros, var. I, Gray, Cat. Mam. B. M. 1852, p. 137. 1856. Nakong, Andersson, Lake N'gami, p. 449. * These diagnoses only apply to the males of each species, the females of T. euryceros and angasii being unknown. |