The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
Size about that of _C. redunca_; height at withers 28 inches.
General colour greyish fawn, brighter, sometimes almost rufous, on
the head and neck, greyer on the body. Chin, upper part of throat,
belly, and inner sides of limbs white. Darker leg-markings absent or
inconspicuous. Tail only reaching about to the level of the groin, very
bushy, fawn above, white below.
Horns slender, not exceeding 4 inches in circumference, evenly curved
upwards and forwards, but showing in a very marked degree the change of
general form with age already referred to in the other species.
Skull measurements of an adult male:--Basal length 8·1 inches, greatest
breadth 4·1, muzzle to orbit 5·1.
_Female_ similar to the male, but hornless.
_Hab._ Eastern portion of South Africa south of the Zambesi,
especially Natal, Zululand, and Bechuanaland.
Besides the ordinary Reedbuck of the Cape (which is that called in
this work _Cervicapra arundinum_) the Dutch settlers have from an
early date recognized the existence of a second species of the same
group in eastern parts of the Colony, which, instead of frequenting
banks of rivers, resorts to the terraces of the mountains, and is
commonly called the “Roi Rhébok,” or “Red Roebuck.” Great confusion
has prevailed for many years as to the proper scientific name of
this species. By Lichtenstein and Sundevall it has been called
“_eleotragus_,” and by Gray “_reduncus_”; but, according to
our views, both these names are properly applicable to other species.
Until lately we have used for it the specific term “_lalandii_” it
being in all probability the “_Antilope lalandia_” of Desmoulins,
founded by that author in 1822 upon a specimen of a female Antelope in
the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle obtained at the Cape by the well-known
French collector Delalande. But we have lately found another older
name for it, which, under the circumstances, we think we shall be
justified in employing, although we must confess that in all these old
names there is a considerable element of uncertainty. After describing
the Reedbuck (_C. arundinum_) Allamand, in his edition of Buffon
(as quoted by Afzelius), speaks of another similar animal of a darker
colour, which is found in the mountains of the Cape Colony. Upon this
variety of Allamand, Afzelius, in his memoir on Antelopes, published
at Upsala in 1815, proceeds to establish a species _Antilope
fulvorufula_. Between two uncertain names, therefore, in order to
avoid the necessity of proposing a new one, we will select the oldest
and call the Roi Rhébok _Cervicapra fulvorufula_.
The earliest good description and figure of this species were
published by Lichtenstein in the second Heft of his ‘Darstellung der
Säugethiere,’ issued at Berlin about the year 1829. Here _Antilope
eleotragus_, as he unfortunately calls it, is well distinguished by
many characters from the larger Reedbuck (which Lichtenstein termed
_A. isabellina_), and figures are given of it of both sexes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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