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Show 300 ON MAMMALS FROM THE SOUDAN. [Apr. 21, 35 mm."), with shorter ears, and with the remarkable character (if not due to accident) of having no white at the end of its tail. 15. L epus ^ th io p ic u s H. & E. 6. c?. Shendy. 1 September, 1902. 92.93.94.97. S 2 2 • Agageh, Kordofan. November 1902. 39. $ • Wad Medina, Blue Nile. 16. P r o c avia rufic eps H. & E. 77. <5. Kaga Hills, Kordofan. 2 November, 1902. 78. 79.80.83.88. Agageh Hills. November. 17. Oryx a l g a z e l dammah Cretzschm. <5 . Kordofan. Practically a topotype of the subspecies. When the ‘ Book of Antelopes ' was published, owing to the predilection of the senior author for " well-established " names, the term leucoryx was used for the species to which Lichtenstein erroneously transferred that name, while the true leucoryx of the Persian Gulf was called by Gray's name beatrix. To put matters more in accordance with modern ideas on nomenclature, the Scimitar Oryx should bear the name algazel Oken; but as that name was founded on Cuvier's figure of a Senegal specimen, and it is practically certain that the Eastern Soudanese form is at least subspecifically distinct from the Western, a second name is required, and this we find in the " Antilope dammah " of Riippell and Cretzschmar. A. dammah was erroneously identified by Riippell, and following him by Sclater and myself, with the Beisa, but by its locality (" die grossen Steppen von Haraza ") is clearly shown to be the Scimitar Oryx. This is fortunate, as the name dammah, being earlier than beisa, would have had to be used in the latter's place had Ruppell's identification been correct, but now the Beisa is left with its familiar name unaltered. Briefly put, the nomenclature is as follows:- Scimitar Oryx. Oryx a l g a z e l Oken. 0. leucoryx of authors generally, not of Pallas. Western form :- Cemas algazel Oken, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. ii. p. 741 (1816); ex L'Algazelle, F. Cuv. H. N. Mamm. i. pi. 376 (1819). (Senegal.) Eastern form :- Antilope dammah Cretzschm. Atl. Riipp. Reise, Mamm. p. 22 (footnote), 1826. (Haraza, Kordofan.) White Oryx. O r y x l e u c o r y x Pall. Antilope leucoryx Pall. Spic. Zool. xii. p. 17 (1777). Oryx beatrix Gray, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 157, and of authors generally. |