50 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



the root of the tail ; this however being the usual 

 custom, it is here assumed that such was the case, 

 and the remarkable discrepancy on the wrong 

 side may be explained by overstretching of the 

 Vienna skin in mounting. Other measurements 

 of the Leyden blaauwbok ; minimum divergence 

 of horns, iJin, ; length of ear, 9|in. ; length of 

 mane, i+in. Beyond the fact that it was shot 

 previous to 1776, no particulars are known about 

 the Leyden blaauwbok : it is a splendid example, 

 well worthy to be the type of the species. 



2. The blaauwbok shot by Col. Gordon and 

 sent to Europe may have been the example which 

 was acquired by Sylvius von Lennep, of Haarlem, 

 and which at his death became the property of 

 the Haarlem Societe Hollandaise des Sciences. 

 Be this as it may, Gordon's specimen was 

 described by Dr. Allamand, and Gordon himself 

 drew a beautiful figure of it : Buffon copied both 

 Allamand's description and Gordon's figure for 

 publication in his own Natural History. The 

 spirited drawing of the blaauwbok published many 

 years ago, as fig. 650 of the " Museum of 

 Animated Nature," may have been taken from 

 Gordon's sketch. Allamand incorrectly called 

 the blaauwbok the tseiran. a name which rightly 

 belongs to the Mongolian gazelle (Gazella 

 gutturosa). 



3, A preserved skin of the blaauwbok was seen 



