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Show 214 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON BAKER'S ANTELOPE. [M January 1863, and stated to be those of the Salmon of the Rhine. Mr. F. Buckland exhibited and made remarks on other specimens of Salmonoids reared in fresh water. Dr. Gunther maintained that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that the ova from which these fishes had been hatched were really those of Salmo salar. Judging by the specimens themselves he believed them to be more probably young of some species of Lake-Trout or hybrids between two different species of Salmo. The following papers were read :- 1. Notes on Baker's Antelope (Hippotragus bakeri). By P. L. SCLATER, M.A., Ph.D., F.E.S., Secretary to the Society. (Plate XVI.) In an article upon the Antelopes and Buffaloes of North-eastern Africa, published in the 30th volume of the ' Nova Acta Academiae Leopoldino-Carolinae ' *, the well-known traveller and naturalist Th. v. Heuglin has given a description of a new Antelope of the genus Hippotragus, and named it after our illustrious countryman Sir Samuel Baker, by w h o m it was discovered and communicated to the author. W h e n visiting the Royal Menagerie at Turin last summer, I was shown a young male Antelope, recently received from Dr. Ori, the * " Ueber die Antilopen und Buffel Nord-Ost-Afrikas. Von Th. v. Heuglin." Jena, 1863. Herr v. Heuglin gives the following description of this Antelope:- Cornua in utroque sexu ; his robustis, basi rotundatis et approximatis, arcuatis, recurvatis, vix ad apicem annulatis. Pallide hepatico-fulvesccns, fronte, macula oculari, striisque humeralibus 3-4 vix obliquis, nigris; juba collari et dorsali longa, nigerrima; rostri apice albido. " The thickening of the horns above the base in this species is very peculiar. In two examples the tip of the horn lies outside the segment of the circle which the horn itself describes, and is slightly, although quite noticeably, directed outwards. A pair of horns from Setit, which I also ascribe to this species, are about one-third smaller, and the horns form a perfectly regular arc of almost 90°. In the adult animal the mane is very long, particularly upon the base of the hinder neck, and erect; also the front part of the neck appeared to m e (as far as I could see at a distance of 80 paces) to be provided with a mane. The footprint of the beast is very large and broad. " The animal lives in large herds, containing about thirty individuals, on the Qualabat, on the Djebel Qedani, on the Bahr Salam, on the Atbara, in Eastern Sennaar, and on this side of Fazogloa on the Djebel Qiid, Rorah, &c. It is only met with in open places, and is, moreover, so shy and swift that it can be caught only with the best horses. "I have only once had the opportunity of seeing this beautiful Antelope, which is of the size of a Horse; on the other hand. I have to thank for most of the particulars here given the English traveller S. W . Baker, who brought the horns with him from the Atbara." |