THE BLUE WILDEBEEST 89 



this member is normally black in Connochaetes 

 taurinus. 



The present species ranges throughout the 

 eastern portion of the African continent, from the 

 Vaal River as far north as Kilimanjaro, and like 

 the roan antelope, the Burchell zebra, and other 

 widely-distributed animals, shows considerable 

 tendency to variation in the different portions of 

 its extensive habitat. Thus the so-called white- 

 bearded gnu {Connochaetes taurinus albojtibatus) 

 is paler in colour than the normal type, especially 

 on face and buttocks : the chin is white, and white 

 hairs are sprinkled in the black mane, whilst the 

 bunches on the throat are white, tinged with 

 yellow. The wildebeest of German East Africa 

 on the other hand constitute a darker phase, 

 having the body greyish-brown and the mane 

 brown mixed with white. Johnston's wildebeest 

 (C taurinus johnstoni) is likewise brownish ; it 

 has a curious white line crossing the face, just 

 below the level of the eyes, recalling the chevron 

 of the addax antelope. This chevron is very 

 remarkable, and perhaps indicates that the wilde- 

 beests and hartebeests are all derived from the 

 same ancestral stock ; indeed, amongst the 

 " bastard-hartebeests "one finds Hunter's antelope 

 {Damaliscus hunteri) still retaining this ornament. 



Wildebeest show traces of their ancestry in 

 structure also, which affords far more important 



