BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 477 



inches, but the horn direction varies greatly, and specimens 

 exceeding i8 inches in spread sometimes occur. 



The eland are to a considerable extent local in distribu- 

 tion, but they inhabit widely different sorts of country, from 

 dry desert bush to moist highland meadows. In East 

 Africa they have been found in the low desert district near 

 the Taita Hills by Jackson. Selous has found skulls as far 

 north as the Lorian swamp in the midst of the northern 

 desert. These no doubt represent the skulls of eland which 

 have strayed down the Northern Guaso Nyiro River from 

 its headwaters on the Laikipia Plateau and perished in 

 the desert, as they are not known on the lower reaches of 

 the river. In the Nile Valley they reach the east bank of the 

 Nile, and are there only separated by the river from the 

 territory occupied by the giant eland. Lydekker has sug- 

 gested that in this region intermediate individuals might • 

 be looked for, which would bridge the gap existing between 

 the two species. Upon this point we can assure him that 

 the difference in skull structure and shape of ears and 

 horns are of too fundamental a character to permit such an f 

 assumption. The region east of the Soudan station of / 

 Mongolia in 6° north latitude marks the extreme northern 

 limit of the East African eland in Africa. 



