species as follows:--“This is a forest-antelope, living entirely in the
jungle. It is not gregarious, but is met with either alone or in pairs.
The female brings forth one or two young, and occasionally the two old
and two young ones may be seen together. Though not forming a special
object of pursuit, a shot at the ‘Baikrie,’ as it is generally called
on the Bombay side of India, is often got when out stalking other game.
If you see one before it sees you it is fairly easy to stalk it; but
it more often happens that they see you first, when they will not
admit of approach. On three or four occasions they have stood stupidly
looking at me as I walked in full view slowly towards them, and have
allowed me to get within 20 yards before bolting. This only occurs when
one does not want to shoot them. Forsyth says that the females are more
numerous than the bucks, and bear the same proportion to each other as
the does and bucks of the black buck. At one time I thought the same
myself, but further experience has made me sure that this is not the
fact, and that bucks are nearly, if not quite, as numerous as does. The
female is hornless. The male has four horns; the posterior and larger
pair in a good specimen will be four inches long or a little more.
One-and-a-half inches is a good length for the anterior horns and is
not often exceeded. In some heads the anterior horns are absent, though
the bony knobs are covered with a callous black skin.”
The Four-horned Antelope is not unfrequently brought alive to Europe,
but cannot be said to accommodate itself very readily to our northern
climate. In 1868 a single specimen was received by the Zoological
Society of London as a present from the Babu Rajendra Mullick, of
Calcutta. In 1881 a pair of the typical form were acquired by purchase,
and bred in the Regent’s Park in the following spring. A female calf
was born on February 28th, 1882.
In 1875 three examples of the subspecies (or variety) without the
anterior horns were obtained by purchase. Several examples of this same
form have been received of late years, but have not thriven in the
Society’s Gardens. At the present time there is only a single female
left in the Collection.
Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XXIV.) was lithographed by Smit from
a sketch of Mr. Wolf’s. It represents an adult male of the typical
subspecies in two positions.
_August, 1895._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Prepared (for the authors) by Mr. F. H. WATERHOUSE,
Librarian to the Zoological Society of London.
[2] The term _anteorbital gland_ denotes the so-called “tear-bag”
which opens on the face of many Antelopes and Deer. The _lachrymal
pits_ are placed in a depression of the skull below the orbit of
the eye in the lachrymal bone, and contain the above-mentioned gland.
The _lachrymal vacuity_ is a larger or smaller aperture between
some of the component bones of the skull, situated near the lachrymal
pit and at the base of the nasal bones, which form a thin roofing over
the cavity of the nose. The term _supraorbital pits_ is applied
to deep excavations in the forehead of the skull between the eyes,
which lead into perforations traversing the thickness of the bone. The
_molar teeth_ are the last three teeth on either side of each jaw.
[3] These three measurements, when obtainable, will be given of the
skull of every species throughout the work. The “basal length” is taken
from the front lower edge of the large hole at the back of the skull,
the _foramen magnum_, to the front of the muzzle, in a straight line;
the other two explain themselves. The fourth and fifth measurements
are only given in this genus to show the development of the frontal
elongation.
[4] These variations in curvature are probably mainly due to
differences in age, the growth of the curved basal part of the horns
giving at the various stages widely different directions to their
tips.--S. & T.
[5] See Mr. Ravenstein’s narrative of this journey, Pr. R. G. S. xiii.
p. 193 (1891).
[6] See “Routes and Districts in Southern Nyassaland,” by Lieut. B. L.
Sclater, R.E., Geogr. Journ., Nov. 1893.
[7] The following are the chief references to the Koba:--
_Le Koba_, Buff. Hist. Nat. xii. p. 210, but not p. 268, or
the horn pl. xxxii. fig. 2.
_Senegal Antelope_, Pennant, Syn. Mamm. p. 38 (1764) (name
and locality, but not description or woodcut of head, which
refer to _Bubalis caama_).
_Antilope koba_, Erxl. Syst. R. A. p. 293 (1777) (name from
Buffon, description from Pennant).
_Antilope senegalensis_, G. Cuv. Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 235
(1804) (name based on Pennant).
[8] ‘Histoire Naturelle du Gnou, du Grand Gerbe et de l’Hippopotame.’
Amsterdam, 1776.
[9] ‘Beschryving van een nieuw viervoetig Dier aan de Kaap de Goede
Hoop geheeten: Boschbuffel en by de Hottentotten aldaar genaamd Gnou.’
Amsterdam, 1784.
[10] Unless when “_Antilope quadriscopa_” is rediscovered it shall
prove to belong to this subfamily. See below, p. 124.
[11] An animal to which the following names refer has been described as
a member of this genus:--
_Antilope (Cephalophus) quadriscopa_, =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K.
iv. p. 261, fig. (♂), v. p. 345(1827).
_Quadriscopa smithii_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 167
(1869).
_Hab._ Senegal.
The figure, however, shows a species more like a Gazelle than a Duiker,
although some of its characters seem rather Cephalophine. Whatever it
may have been it has never been rediscovered, nor is its description
sufficient for us to assign it to its proper place in the group.
[12] From Loanda, farther south, the Lisbon Museum received, in 1869,
the head of a large Duiker, which our friend Dr. Barboza du Bocage
referred, rightly as it now proves, to Gray’s _C. longiceps_.
Afterwards, however, in 1878, struck by the great development of
the rufous crest, of which no mention had been previously made, he
distinguished it as _C. ruficrista_. Thanks to his kindness we
have now had an opportunity of comparing the typical head with those
of the mounted specimens in the British Museum, and find it to be
unquestionably the same, although, as the latter are very old, the
rufous crests have been worn off and but little trace of them is left.
Our figure (Plate XIV. fig. 2) shows, however, that in rather younger
animals the crest is both well developed and very much of the same
rufous colour as in the Lisbon example.
[13] Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 94 (1873).
[14] This name has no connection with the “Antilope zébré, _Antilope
fasciata_, Geoff.,” mentioned (without a description) by Desmarest
(N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. tabl. p. 33, 1804). There is no evidence
available to enable us to determine what this name refers to.
Transcriber’s Notes: 1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling
errors have been corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
5. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
6. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.