found more plentiful on the mainland near Lamu than anywhere else. Sir
Robert Harvey and Mr. Hunter, in October and November 1888, also found
it in fair numbers up the Tana river. I have never seen it myself
south of the Sabaki, though doubtless it is to be met with there also
in suitable places. At Merereni, where the country seems admirably
suited to its habits, although I was shooting there for some time in
1885 and 1886, I never saw one, though fifteen miles further south,
near Mambrui, I observed its spoor. This confirmed me in my theory that
the Oribi is very partial to the vicinity of cultivated tracts, and I
do not remember having seen one in an uninhabited district. At Taka,
a small village on the mainland opposite Patta Island, I saw great
numbers in 1885.
“In the vicinity of this village there was a great deal of land which
at one time had been under cultivation, but was then lying fallow and
covered with coarse dry grass, about two feet high. This afforded
excellent covert, and, as the colour of these little Antelopes closely
resembles that of dry grass, it was very difficult to see them. Except
in one way, stalking them was quite hopeless. I found that the only
plan to get them was to walk them up with one or two beaters on each
side of me, and shoot them with a gun loaded with S. S. G. shot. They
lie so close that they will let the sportsman get within ten or fifteen
yards of them before they will move, but they rarely give him a chance
of a shot under from forty to fifty yards. When they first get up it
is only possible to follow their movements by the waving of the grass.
It is necessary, however, always to be prepared for a snap-shot, as
after going some twenty to thirty yards they will bound up into the
air, offering a capital chance, which may be the only one, as they will
be out of range before they again appear in like manner. This bounding
into the air is, I believe, to enable them to see where they are going
to, and it is a curious fact that when they alight they invariably do
so on their hind legs, not unlike a Kangaroo.
“An Oribi, even when only slightly wounded, will, as a rule, go a very
short distance before lying down, and the sportsman should, therefore,
be careful to follow up all those that he thinks he may have touched.”
Besides Mr. Haggard’s skulls from Lamu, on which Thomas founded this
species, and a head from the same place in Mr. Jackson’s private
collection, there is in the National Museum the perfect skin and
skull of a fine Oribi recently obtained in East Africa and presented
by Mr. A. H. Neumann. No information as to its exact locality has as
yet reached us, and as its skull differs somewhat from that of the
Lamu _O. haggardi_, we are at present unable to form a definite
opinion as to its specific identity. If, as seems probable, this
interesting specimen is really referable to the present form, we may
say that _O. haggardi_ is in general colour rather greyer than the
other species, and that its tail has a decided black tuft at the end,
the proximal part of this organ being white-edged below. To identify
this specimen with the present species, however, will involve the
recognition of a considerable degree of variation in the skull and
horns, and without further material we are unable to do so definitely.
_December, 1895._
GENUS III. RAPHICERUS.
Type.
_Raphicerus_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. v.
p. 342 (1827) R. CAMPESTRIS.
_Calotragus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 192 (1846) R. CAMPESTRIS.
_Pediotragus_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix.
pt. 1, p. 163 (1869) R. CAMPESTRIS.
Accessory hoofs present or absent. No naked glandular spots below ears
or tufts on knees. Tail short.
Skull stout and strongly built, with a short broad muzzle. Anteorbital
fossæ small but deep, their edges rounded and unridged above and below.
Horns nearly vertical, slender, scarcely ridged.
_Distribution._ South and East Africa.
The species we refer to this genus may be divided as follows:--
A. Accessory hoofs present. Fur profusely mixed with white.
46. _R. melanotis_
B. Accessory hoofs absent. Fur uniform in colour.
_a._ S. Africa 47. _R. campestris_.
_b._ Ugogo 48. _R. neumanni_
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXVII.
_Wolf del. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Fig. 1. The Steinbok.
RAPHICEROS CAMPESTRIS.
Fig. 2. The Grysbok.
RAPHICEROS MELANOTIS.
_Published by R·H·Porter._]
46. THE GRYSBOK.
RAPHICERUS MELANOTIS (THUNB.).
[PLATE XXVII. Fig. 2.]
_Greisbock_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 12 (1789); English Transl.
ii. p. 11 (1793).
_Antilope melanotis_, =Thunb.= Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 312
(1811); =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. pp. 257 & 262 (1815);
=Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1235 (1818); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p.
459 (1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 376 (1827); =Licht.= Darst.
Säug. pl. xii. (♂ & ♀) (1828); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm. p. 465
(1829); =Smuts=, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 82 (1832); =Waterh.= Cat.
Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); =Oken=, Allg. Nat. vii. p.
1363 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1838);
=Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 438 (1844), v. p. 411 (1855);
=Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 413 (1845); =Pet.= Reise Mossamb.,
Säug. p. 187 (1852) (Zambesi); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 318 (1854);
=Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 488.
_Antilope tragulus melanotis_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p.
176 (1814); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 375 (1844).
_Tragulus melanotis_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 213
(1834); =Harris=, Wild Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xxvi. fig. 2
(1840).
_Tragelaphus melanotis_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).
_Calotragus melanotis_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl.
1844, p. 192 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand.
Beitr. ii. p. 144; Reprint, p. 68 (1848); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N.
H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850);
=id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 118; =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p.
136 (1851); =id.= Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 72 (1852); =Temm.= Esq.
Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1855); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
235 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 166 (1863);
=Layard=, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 70 (1861); =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien,
lix. pt. 1, p. 165 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 19 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 90 (1873); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd.
Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 131 (1887); =id.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd.
Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 159 (1892); =Matschie=, Thierw. Ost-Afr.
Säugeth. p. 120 (1895).
_Nanotragus melanotis_, =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 642;
=Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 762 (distribution); =id.= Hunt.
Wanderings S. Afr. p. 222 (1881); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p.
300 (1889); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 167 (1891);
=Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 339 (1891); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S.
Afr. p. 26, pl. viii. fig. 29 (head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and
Hoofs, p. 219 (1893); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix. p. 60 (1895).
_Neotragus melanotis_, =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 145
(1883); =id.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 590; =Rendall,= P. Z. S. 1895,
p. 361.
_Antilope grisea_, =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 244 (1816);
=Burch.= List Mamm. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Plettenberg’s
Bay); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 250, v. p. 341 (1827);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842) (_nec_ Boddaert).
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _grisea_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Oreotragus griseus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 164 (1843).
_Antilope rubro-albescens_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i.
p. 446 (1822).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Grysbok_ of Dutch and English Cape
Colonists; _Sash-lungwan_ of Matabilis; _Teemba_ of Makalakas
(_Selous_); _Cassenja_ at Senna and Tette (_Peters_).
Height about 22–23 inches. Fur long and coarse, of a deep rich red
colour profusely mixed with pure white hairs, whence the name “Grys” or
Grey-buck. Under surface paler, but not white. Crown frequently with
a black crescentic mark running round it, as in the Steinbok[1]. Ears
very large, their backs grey. Limbs red. Accessory hoofs present,
but very small, far smaller than in the Oribis. Tail very short, not
blackened at its tip.
Skull and horns very like those of a Steinbok, but the nasal bones seem
to be shorter, and the premaxillæ do not reach so far backwards. A good
adult male skull of this species is, however, a desideratum: we have
only been able to examine immature specimens or those deteriorated by
confinement.
_Hab._ South Africa north to the Zambesi and Mozambique.
The Forsters, who visited the Cape in 1775 during their voyage round
the world along with the great circumnavigator Cook, furnished Buffon
with notices respecting many of the Antelopes which at that time were
met with even in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town. Amongst these
was the present species, which was accordingly described by Buffon, in
the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Quadrupèdes,’ as
the Grysbok or “Chèvre-gris.” About the same period as the Forsters
the learned Swedish naturalist Thunberg visited the Cape, and made
himself acquainted with this and the other Antelopes of that district.
In an article subsequently published by the Academy of St. Petersburg
on the Mammals met with during his stay in South Africa, Thunberg
named the Grysbok _Antilope melanotis_, and his specific name has
usually been adopted for this species, though a subsequently given term
_grisea_ of G. Cuvier has also been applied to it.
In his ‘Darstellung neuer oder wenig bekannter Säugethiere,’
Lichtenstein has given coloured figures of both sexes of this Antelope
from specimens in the Berlin Museum, probably procured by himself. In
the days of Lichtenstein (1803–06) the Grysbok was to be found in all
the middle and western districts of the Cape Colony amongst the hills,
and, according to him, was particularly esteemed as game on account of
its tender and delicate flesh.
Harris, in his great work on the ‘Game Animals of South Africa,’ has
figured the Grysbok on his 26th plate, along with the Bushbok and the
Blaauwbok; he mentions it as, in his time (1836–37), common in the
Colony “among the wooded tracts which skirt the coasts.” Describing
his hunt with a party of Boers, residing not far from the banks
of the Knysna, who had given him a day’s shooting over their best
preserves, he speaks of “proteas and large plots of scarlet geraniums,
interspersed with patches of purple heath,” as being the “favourite
harbour of the roan Grysbok,” and gives an account of its pursuit as
follows:--“Squatted like a hare upon its snug form, this beautiful
little animal is rarely to be dislodged until well nigh trodden upon;
but the dogs have pushed one out of that bed of fern, and are hunting
it directly towards us. Returning again and again upon its old track,
it bounds now over the head of the clustering heather, now doubles
round the corner of a bush, and now, darting aside into the narrow
footpath by which we are advancing, stands a moment with averted head
to listen for its pursuers. Finding them close upon its heels, away it
flies again, and making a desperate plunge into the heart of a thick
shrub, vainly hopes that it may have found an asylum. But thine enemies
have again ferreted thee out, cunning one! and disabled by a stray
buckshot from the _roer_ of that ruthless Hollander, thou art
circling round with dizzy brain and drooping head in quest of a corner
wherein thou mayst lie down to die. Alas! Mynheer’s rude hand has
seized thee, innocent! and whilst he is fumbling for a knife wherewith
to terminate thy helpless struggles, who that hears thy plaintive
cries, like those of a new-born babe, or witnesses the infantine
simplicity expressed in thy large melting black eye, brimful of dewy
tears, can fail inwardly to curse his barbarity?”
In 1861 Mr. E. L. Layard describes the Grysbok as still found in some
abundance at the foot of Table Mountain and on the Lion’s Hill in
the immediate vicinity of Cape Town, though we are somewhat doubtful
whether that is the case at the present time.
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington speak of the Grysbok as being mostly
found in the eastern districts of the Colony and on the borders of
Natal. Its habits, they state, are solitary and almost identical with
those of the Steinbok (_R. campestris_), except that it invariably
frequents hilly, broken, and stony country in preference to open flats.
Its flesh, they add, is not particularly good. As regards its range
farther north, Mr. Selous tells us that beyond the Limpopo the Grysbok
is only met with in certain hilly districts of the more easterly
portions of the interior. In Matabeleland it is very scarce, but in
all the hilly country of the Victoria Falls and throughout Mashonaland
down to the Zambesi it is fairly numerous. Mr. Selous also speaks of it
as being met with in the South African territory north of the Zambesi
as far as he penetrated; and Peters has recorded its presence, not
uncommonly, in the plains of Sena, Tette, and Macanga in Mozambique up
to 16° N. latitude.
The Grysbok is included by Matschie in his recently published work on
the Mammals of German East Africa, but only upon the ground that it
will probably be found to occur there. We are not able to confirm this
statement, having never seen specimens of the Grysbok from any locality
so far north.
The Grysbok has been occasionally brought alive to Europe, but does
not appear to do well in captivity. The first example recorded in the
Zoological Society’s register is a female presented by Sir George
Grey in 1861. A second specimen was obtained by purchase in 1864, and
a third in 1869. In May of the present year a female specimen was
presented to the Society by Mr. J. E. Matcham, of Port Elizabeth,
but did not live long in the Gardens. From this animal the figure of
the Grysbok now given (Plate XXVII. fig. 2) has been coloured by Mr.
Smit, though the plate was originally taken by the same artist from a
water-colour drawing prepared by Wolf, under the direction of the late
Sir Victor Brooke, from some other specimen. This drawing, along with
many other original sketches of Wolf’s, is now in the possession of Sir
Douglas Brooke.
The National Collection is not well provided with examples of this
Antelope. Besides a pair collected by Burchell in 1814 there are in the
series only some skulls and skeletons of somewhat doubtful authority.
Good fresh specimens of both sexes of the Grysbok, accompanied by their
skulls, would therefore form a valuable acquisition to the British
Museum.
_December, 1895._
47. THE STEINBOK.
RAPHICERUS CAMPESTRIS (THUNB.).
[PLATE XXVII. FIG. 1.]
_Capra grimmia_, =Thunb.= Resa, ii. p. 8 (1789); =id.= Engl.
Transl. ii. p. 7 (1793) (_nec_ Linn.) (Cape Town).
_Antilope campestris_, Thunb. Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 313
(1811).
_Calotragus campestris_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 71 (1852);
Layard, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 68 (1861); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm.
B. M. p. 235 (1862).
_Pediotragus campestris_, =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 31 (1872);
id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 100 (1873).
_Nanotragus campestris_, =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
24, pl. ii. fig. 6 (head) (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 217
(1893); =Jackson=, Badm. Big Game Shooting, i. pp. 285 & 301
(1894) (E. Africa); =Lorenz=, Ann. Mus. Wien, ix. p. 60 (1895).
_Neotragus campestris_, =Rendall=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 361.
_Antilope tragulus_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 176
(1814); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p. 1234 (1818); =Schinz=, Cuv.
Thierr. i. p. 392 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm. ii. p. 458 (1822);
=Licht.= Darst. Säug. pl. xiv. (♂ ♀) (1828); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn.
Mamm. p. 464 (1829); =Smuts=, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 81 (1832);
=Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 291 (1836); =Oken=, Allg. Naturg.
vii. p. 1362 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 622
(1839); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840); =Less.=
N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. pp.
36 & 374 (1844); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 436 (1844),
v. p. 410 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 411 (1845);
=Peters=, Reise Mossamb., Säug. p. 187 (1852) (Inhambane);
=Gieb.= Säug. p. 318 (1854); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p.
88.
_Tragelaphus tragulus_, =Rüpp.= Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).
_Oreotragus tragulus_, =Gray=, List Mamm. B. M. p. 164 (1843);
=id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 146 (1847).
_Calotragus tragulus_, =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1844,
p. 192 (1846); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr.
ii. p. 144; Reprint, p. 68 (1848); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1)
xviii. p. 232 (1846); =id.= Knowsl. Men. p. 7 (1850); =id.=
P. Z. S. 1850, p. 48; =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 136
(1851); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 192 (1853); =Blyth=, Cat.
Mamm. As. Soc. p. 166 (1863); =Drumm.= Large Game S. Afr. pp.
395 & 426 (1875) (Zululand).
_Pediotragus tragulus_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 163
(1869); =Jent.= N. L. M. ix. p. 173 (1887) (Mossamedes); =id.=
Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 134 (1887); =id.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 165 (1892); =id.= N. L.
M. xv. p. 265 (1893) (Cunene R.).
_Nanotragus tragulus_, =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1872, pp. 642 & 874;
=Buckley=, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 283 (distribution); =Bocage=, P. Z.
S. 1878, p. 742; =Selous=, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 762; =id.= Hunt.
Wand. S. Afr. p. 222 (1881); =Bryden=, Kloof and Karroo, p. 300
(1889); =Hunter=, in Willoughby’s E. Africa, p. 290 (1889);
=Crawshay=, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 654 (Nyasa); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm.
Calc. Mus. ii. p. 166 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 339
(1891); =Lugard=, E. Africa, i. p. 540 (1893).
_Neotragus tragulus_, =Scl.= List Anim. Zool. Soc. (8) p. 145
(1883); =id.= P. Z. S. 1861, p. 209.
_Antilope tragulus rupestris_, =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p.
177 (1814); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 376 (1844).
_Antilope rupestris_, =Burch.= Travels, i. pp. 202, 281 (1822),
ii. p. 15 (1824); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 248, v. p. 340
(1827); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 412 (1845).
_Tragulus rupestris_, =A. Sm.= S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 212
(1834); =Harris=, Wild An. S. Afr. pl. xxv. fig. 2 (♂) (1840).
_Antilope capensis_ (misprint for _campestris_), =Afzel.= N.
Act. Ups. vii. p. 254 (1815).
_Antilope ibex_, =Afzel.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 263 (1815);
=Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 376 (1827).
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _stenbock_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, p. 75.
_Cerophorus_ (_Cervicapra_) _acuticornis_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc.
Philom. 1816, pp. 75 & 79; =id.= Journ. Phys., Aug. 1818, pl.
fig. 8 (skull); =id.= Oken’s Isis, 1819, ii. p. 1095, pl. xii.
fig. 8 (skull).
_Antilope acuticornis_, =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 193
(1816); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 395 (1821); =Desm.= Mamm.
ii. p. 460 (1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 377 (1827); =Flow. &
Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 275 (1884).
_Antilope_ (_Raphicerus_) _acuticornis_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K.
iv. p. 252, v. p. 342 (1827); =Less.= H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.)
x. p. 292 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262
(1840); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).
_Antilope fulvo-rubescens_, =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i.
p. 446 (1822).
_Antilope_ (_Raphicerus_) _subulata_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv.
p. 253 (fig. horns), v. p. 342 (1827); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x.
p. 292 (1836); =Gerv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. Suppl. i. p. 262 (1840);
=Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 177 (1842).
_Pediotragus tragulus grayi_, =Fitz.= SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1,
p. 163 (1869).
_Vernacular Names_:--_Steinbok_ of Dutch and English Colonists;
_Iquia_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Ingnweena_ or _Umgwena_ of
Matabilis; _Puruhuru_ of Bechuanas; _Ee-peu-nee_ of Makalakas;
_Kahu_ of Masubias; _Kimba_ of Batongas; _Gai-ee_ of Masaras
(_Selous_); _Shipeni_ of Transvaal Shangeans; _Njena_ of Swazis
(_Rendall_); _Ishah_ of E. African Swahilis (_Hunter_).
Size small. General colour bright sandy rufous, richer on the head. Top
of muzzle and a horseshoe-shaped marking on the crown generally brown,
but these marks are by no means constant. A white supraorbital stripe,
much as in the Oribi. No auricular gland. No knee-tufts nor false hoofs
present. Tail short, coloured above like the back, below whitish, no
black tip.
Skull stoutly built, its upper surface peculiarly roughened and ridged.
Premaxillæ reaching to, and articulating with, the nasals.
Horns, in proportion to the size of the animal, longer than in the
Oribis, very slender, smooth, and practically unridged throughout.
Their direction is nearly vertical, and they are slightly curved
forwards.
Dimensions, ♂:--Height at withers 19·5 inches, length of hind foot 9·7,
ear 4·2.
Skull: basal length 4·86 inches, greatest breadth 2·68, muzzle to orbit
2·6.
_Hab._ South Africa, from the Cape to the Zambesi and on
the west to the Cunene.
The Steinbok became known to the Forsters and Thunberg through the
Dutch settlers at the Cape at about the same date as the Grysbok, and
in 1811 received the scientific name _Antilope campestris_ from
the latter author in his memoir, published by the Academy of Sciences
of St. Petersburg, to which we have already alluded. Three years later
Lichtenstein in his article upon the species of Antilope published
in the Magazine of the “Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde” of
Berlin, proposed the name _Antilope tragulus_, but under this
designation united both the Steinbok and the Grysbok, as well as the
pale variety of the latter species which the Dutch settlers called
the “Bleekbok.” In uniting the Steinbok and Grysbok under one head
Lichtenstein was clearly in error, the structural difference presented
by the absence of accessory hoofs, as well as the divergence in the
colour of the fur, sufficiently distinguishing the present species from
the Grysbok. Lichtenstein no doubt derived his ideas upon this subject
from Forster’s manuscripts, as the same view is taken in Forster’s
posthumous work ‘Descriptiones Animalium,’ when it was tardily
published in 1844. Under these circumstances there can be no doubt,
we think, that “_campestris_” is the proper specific term to be
employed for the present species.
In an article upon the Ruminants published by Blainville in the
‘Bulletin of the Société Philomathique’ for 1816 and subsequently
enlarged in the ‘Journal de Physique,’ that author described and
figured the skull of a specimen which he had observed in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons in London and called it _Antilope
acuticornis_. On Blainville’s description and figure of this skull
Hamilton Smith, in the fifth volume of Griffith’s Cuvier, subsequently
established a new genus of Antelopes, “_Raphicerus_.” Whoever
consults this figure and compares it with a skull of the Steinbok will
inevitably come to the conclusion that the figure represents the skull
of that animal. We have accordingly added _Antilope acuticornis_
of Blainville, and the further references to it subsequently published,
to the synonyms of the Steinbok, and under these circumstances have
thought it necessary to give the generic term _Raphicerus_
precedence as the generic name of the present group over the better
known names _Calotragus_ of Sundevall and _Pediotragus_ of
Fitzinger.
It would seem also that _Antilope subulata_ of Hamilton Smith,
given in the same work as a second species of _Raphicerus_, and
taken from another pair of horns, also then in the Museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons, may be safely referred to the present species.
Captain Harris, in his ‘Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of South
Africa,’ published in 1840, figures the Steen-bok, as he calls it,
along with the Rhebok in his 25th plate, and speaks of it as “common in
the Colony.”
In 1861, when Mr. Layard prepared his ‘Catalogue of the Mammals in the
Collection of the South African Museum,’ the Steinbok was spoken of
as then common throughout the Colony. It is partial, Mr. Layard tells
us, “to flat plains covered with bushes” and “selects a spot, in the
immediate neighbourhood of which it may constantly be found. When a
Steinbok is killed off, a few days suffice to reproduce a new occupant
for the favoured spot.”