_Antilope (Oryx) bezoastica_, =H. Smith=, Griff. An. K. iv. p. 191, v. p. 327 (1827). _Oryx bezoarticus_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 178 (1869). Vernacular Names:—_Toa_ or _Tao_ of the Hebrews and Egyptians (_Hamilton Smith_); _Abu-harb_, of Sennaar and Kordofan Arabs (_Licht._); _Wahsch el Baqer_ and _Baqer el Wádi_ of the Arabs (_Heuglin_); _Lymbe_ and _Aschamel_ of the Tuaregs (_Barth._). Height at withers about 40 inches. Prevailing colour of the sides of the body yellowish or reddish white, often more or less dappled with blotches of pale brown; neck and shoulders above the base of the leg ruddy brown, this colour extending from the withers along the back and becoming diffused over the rump, thighs, and base of the tail. Head whitish, with a greyish-brown patch on the nose and on the forehead, the two united by an ill-defined brownish stripe; a stripe of the same hue extending a short distance above the eye and below it on to the middle of the cheek; the hinder part of the cheek of the same reddish-brown colour as the neck; ears dirty white, the tips and rims not darkened. No distinct dark stripe along the throat, no dark stripe along the middle of the back and nape of the neck, and only a faint longitudinal stripe on each side between the flanks and belly; mane of neck brown. Legs whitish in tint, clouded in front with brown, which spreads downwards from the shoulders and thighs. Hairs along the spine reversed from rump. Horns long, with a bold crescentic backward curvature; attaining a length of nearly 40 inches. A skull offers the following measurements:—Basal length 13 inches, muzzle to orbit 9, greatest width 5·75. _Female_ similar to the male, but horns thinner. _Hab._ Interior of North Africa from Dongola to Senegal. Whatever the _Oryx_ of Aristotle, Pliny, and other ancient writers may have been (which has been a subject of much discussion), there can be little doubt that the _Oryx_ of Oppian, commemorated in his celebrated poem on the Chase, was based on an Antelope of this group. In the Latin translation of Oppian’s work it is described as a beast much dreaded by its fellow creatures:— “In densis etiam sævissima bestia sylvis Trux stabulatur Oryx, odium commune ferarum Præcipuusque timor. Cornu gerit acre, colorem Lactis habet verni: facies est candida, solæ In vultu malæ picea caligine nigrant: Turgescit duplex crassa pinguedine dorsum. Cornua sublimes excelsa feruntur in auras, In quibus est mucro fuscus, lethalis et acer.”