374 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



of Athi specimens. The largest pair in the series of 1 1 males 

 has a width of 24^^ inches and a length of 21. A series of 

 15 specimens from the Loita Plains have been examined in 

 the National Museum which represent localities in the 

 Southern Guaso Nyiro drainage and the headwaters of the 

 Amala River near the German boundary. 



Hartebeests 



Bubalis 



Bubalis Lichtenstein, 1814, Mag. Nat. Fre., Berl., p. 154; type B. buselaphus, 

 the bubal hartebeest of Algeria. 



The hartebeests form a very distinct genus. They are 

 easily recognized by their elongate heads, which have a pecu- 

 liarly straight dorsal profile owing to the great projection 

 backward of the horn bases or pedicle beyond the condyles 

 of the skull. No other group has such a union of the horn 

 bases into a pronounced pedicle from the ends of which the 

 horns fork. The hartebeest has extremely high withers and 

 a narrow body. The tail is moderately long and tufted. 

 The ears are narrow but of fair length. The horns are alike 

 in the sexes and are usually curved at sharp angles outward 

 and then backward or inward. They are of moderate 

 length, usually equalling the head. The female is much 

 smaller in body size than the male, being usually a third less 

 in weight. The calves are lighter-colored than their parents, 

 being a uniform buff^y-fulvous. The skull is without definite 

 anteorbital fossa, having merely a shallow depression in front 

 of the orbit. The horn pedicle is very long and forks pos- 

 teriorly to the condyles, and is in breadth less than the 

 length from the fork to the orbit. The nasal bones are very 

 long and extend forward as far as the tip of the snout. 

 The mammae are reduced to two. The genus includes six 

 or seven well-marked species with their geographical forms. 

 Although the various species show considerable distinction, 

 their ranges nowhere overlap, and as a genus much discon- 

 tinuous distribution occurs. The fossil species described 

 are a Pliocene species from India and two Pleistocene 

 species from the Transvaal, one of which, B. priscus, had 

 horns very similar to cokei but was a somewhat larger 

 animal. 



