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Show 1867.] DR. J. MURIE ON AN AFRICAN ANTELOPE. 5 skin appears as if drenched with water, or, rather, burnished with oil. Its being wanting in the skins from the Nile, if it did originally exist, might be accounted for by the manner of their preparation (namely, partial drying in the scorching sun), or by the intermixture of sandy particles among the hairs. Again, in regard to colour, the West-African specimens (horned male and hornless female) in the British Museum, the head from Uganda, and the animal alive in Antwerp all have more or less of a yellowish brown or russet tinge, considerably lighter in shade than either of the two skins which Dr. Kaup has provisionally named Antilope harnieri, and which exhibit a kind of dark umber tint. The short hair of the skin of these Nilotic animals, also, shows a contrast with the comparatively shaggy coat of the Senegal specimens. But this variety in colour and length of hair only bears out what Dr. Gray has remarked upon this point, in his description of the species (P. Z. S. 1850, p. 131). The mounted specimen in Darmstadt (that here figured) is said to he in the dress of the rainy season ; the other dried skin, with even still shorter hairs, is considered to bear the coat of the dry season ; but neither have the abundance or length of hair of the Senegal specimens of the Sing-sing. Notwithstanding the differences mentioned above, which may either be attributed to variety, season, or geographical distribution, the proportions of body, head, and horns are such that no distinct line of demarcation can be drawn between the Antelopes obtained from the White Nile by Baron Harnier and the Sing-Sing inhabiting the more westerly part of the same continent. The following table illustrates in inches some of the approximate measurements of the stuffed animals :- _ u _ .± .. _ , . Darmstadt Brit. Mus. Speke s specimen, specimen, spec. Height at the shoulder 45f 4.">g Length of body, rump to front of shoulder.... 52 of head, from between the horns to tip of muzzle 13g 13 of tail 16 11 Horns, in length 23| 22 24 , girth at their roots 7| 8 7| , number of rings on each 8 Length of ears 20 24 'O' The figures of the horns and skull of Baron Harnier's specimen now exhibited (see figs. 1 & 2, pp. 6 & 7) are also copied from the pencil drawings of Herr Kerz, and are reduced to about a seventh of their natural size. In the man ner in which the horns branch outwards and backwards, and with only a slight tendency to return forwards at the tips, they agree with Capt. Speke's animal. They at the same time have a nearer resemblance to those of A. Smith's typical South-African specimen of Kobus ellipsiprymnus, now in the British Museum, thau to the Kobus sing-sing in the same collection. The latter male animal, |