The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
We have as yet no records of any Reedbuck having been obtained in
Somaliland, but when we go further south to British East Africa we have
good evidence from several trustworthy observers of its existence in
that country. It is a difficult question, however, and one which is by
no means yet decided, whether the East-African Reedbuck is the same as
the Abyssinian “Bohor.”
Dr. Günther was the first to interest himself in this subject, and
contributed a paper on it to the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ in
1890. Taking the skull of an adult male Reedbuck, obtained by Mr. H.
C. V. Hunter in British East Africa, he pointed out the differences
between it and the South-African Reedbuck called _C. redunca_ by
Gray, which is in fact _C. fulvorufula_ of the present work. By the
kind permission of the Zoological Society of London we are enabled
to reproduce the woodcuts of the portions of the skull of these two
Antelopes upon which Dr. Günther based his conclusions, and we add
thereto Dr. Günther’s descriptions of these differences.
“_Cervicapra fulvorufula_[12] (fig. 38, p. 168) is distinguished
by its very large orbit; in a skull 230 millim. long the vertical
dimension of the orbit is 45 millim.; the eyeball is supported below
by a largely expanded concavity of the jugal bone, the lower edge of
the orbit being particularly sharp and thin, merging into the suture
between the jugal and lacrymal bones. The cheek part of the skull is
flat, rather concave, so that the facial portion of the cranium between
the orbit and the antorbital foramen appears rather compressed when
viewed from above. The ascending ramus of the intermaxillary reaches
to, or nearly to, the nasal bone. The horns are but slightly divergent
and very little bent forwards.
“In _Cervicapra bohor_ (fig. 39, p. 169) the orbit is comparatively
smaller; in a skull 245 millim. long the vertical diameter of the
orbit is only 40 millim.; the jugal bone is much less expanded to form
the bottom of the orbital cavity; the lower rim of the orbit has two
edges, the lower of which does not merge into the jugo-lacrymal suture,
but runs parallel to it at a distance of about 8 millim. The cheek
part of the skull is swollen and convex, so that the facial portion
of the cranium above the molar teeth cannot be termed compressed.
The ascending ramus of the intermaxillary is short, terminating at a
considerable distance from the nasal bone.”
[Illustration: Fig. 38.
Skull of _Cervicapra fulvorufula_.--_j_, jugal; _l_,
lacrymal.
(P. Z. S. 1890, p. 604.)]
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