_Connochætes gnu_, =Gray=, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 119 (1852); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862); =Gray=, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) iv. p. 291 (fig. of young horns) (1869); =id.= Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); =id.= Hand-l. Rum. p. 113 (1873); =Scl.= List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883); =Huet=, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (3) ix. p. 678, x. p. 95 (1883) (breeding in Paris); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 274 (1884); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 138 (1887); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891); =Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 336, fig. 139 (animal) (1891); =Ward=, Horn Meas. p. 74 (1892); =Nicolls & Egl.= Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 48, pl. vii. fig. 25 (head) (1892); =Jent.= Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 205 (1893). VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Gnu_, _White-tailed Gnu_, or _Black Wildebeest_ of English Cape colonists; _Zwart Wildebeest_ of Dutch colonists; _Inkonkone_ of Kaffirs (_Drummond_); _Imbutuma_ of Zulus (_Rendall_). Size rather less than in _C. taurinus_. General colour dark brown or blackish, the upwardly-directed facial tuft, the long hairs of the nape, throat, and chest black. Tail very long; its thick tuft reaching nearly to the ground; its colour white, except just at the base, where it is like the back. Skull shorter than in _C. taurinus_, but lengthened above, owing to the horn-bases being prolonged backwards to support the enormous palms of the horns, beyond the level of the occiput. Nasals short and broad. Measurements:--basal length 15·5 inches, greatest breadth 6·4, muzzle to orbit 9·3. Horns with very large longitudinally developed palms, frequently attaining 8 inches in their greatest diameter. Proximal half of horn directed downwards, outwards, and forwards, then rapidly recurved, the end, which is about 10 or 12 inches in length, pointing nearly vertically upwards. Measured from the top of the palm outside the curves to the tip, good horns attain from 24 to 26 inches. _Hab._ South Africa, south of the Limpopo. The extraordinary form of the Gnu quickly attracted the notice of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape. They called it the “_Wilde-Beest_” supposing it to be a wild form of the domestic cattle, whilst the native name was stated to be _Gnou_ or _Gnu_. As early as 1776 a living specimen of the Gnu appears to have reached Amsterdam, and was described by Allamand[8], whose account of it was copied by Buffon in the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ and by Vosmaer[9]. In 1777 Zimmermann latinized the native name, and used it specifically as _gnou_. This term was softened by Gmelin into _gnu_, and thus modified has been generally adopted as the specific name of this Antelope.