OCR Text |
Show 388 MR. O. THOMAS ON UNGULATES. [June 16, 4. T. SPEKEI, Scl. Hab. Central and South-central Africa. Karagweh,W. of Victoria Nyanza (Speke, Mus. Brit.); Chobe River, Upper Zambesi (Selous and Chapman, Mus. Brit.); Lake Ngami (Green, Mus. Brit. ; Oswell, fide Brooke). The characters and ranges of these larger species may now help us in the far more difficult task of the proper systematic arrangement of the smaller forms, Tragelaphus scriptus and its allies. In the larger Bush-bucks the four species are separated not only by colour, number of spots, stripes, & c , but also by definite structural characters, such as the length of the hoofs, the presence or absence of tufts of hair on the body, and the form of the horns ; while in the smaller ones these characters are practically all identical. So far as I can discover, it is impossible to distinguish the horns of the West- African T. scriptus fvom those of the Abyssinian T. decula or the Cape T. sylvaticus ; the hoofs are of the same length in all, and the quality and distribution of the fur shows but little variation. It would appear, then, that all the smaller Bush-bucks should be united as one species, but that within this species four subspecies should be recognized, these subspecies being practically based on colour alone. T. decula alone is rather more distinct than the rest and might by some authors be kept specifically separate, but more material from intermediate localities is needed before this point can be satisfactorily settled, and in the meantime it seems better to range it with T. scriptus rather than to erect it into a sixth species of the genus, with, at the best, characters so very much less in degree than those that separate the other five. The synonymy and characters of the subspecies of T. scriptus may be briefly given as follows :- 5. T. SCRIPTUS, Pall. a. T. SCRIPTUS D E C U L A , Riipp. Antilope decula, Riipp. N. Wirb. Abyss, p. 11, pi. iv. (1835). Form shorter and stouter than in other subspecies. General colour more yellowish than rufous. Transverse bands nearly obsolete, but one high lateral longitudinal one present, sometimes broken into spots; haunches only spotted ; dorsal line dark in both sexes. Chest and belly little darker than back. Hab. Abyssinia. Salam River, Upper Atbara (Mus. Brit.); Lake Dembea (Ruppell). b. T. SCRIPTUS TYPICUS, Pall. Antilope scripta, Pall. Misc. Zool. p. 8 (1766) (ex Buff.). A.phalerata, H. Sm., Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 275 (1827). Colour bright rufous, brilliantly marked all over the body with numerous white spots and both longitudinal and transverse stripes. Dorsal band white in adult males. Chest with a blackish mane. Hab. West, Central, and South-central Africa, covering very much the combined ranges of T. gratus and T. spekei. Senegal |