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co” | PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 477 
Neotragus damarensis Giinther. Damara-land Pygmy Antelope. 
Plate LXXX. 
This beautiful little antelope is represented by four specimens, two 
males and two females. Dr. Giinther’s description of the species is 
very brief, but the most important statement is that it is almost iden- 
tical in external appearance with JN. saltiana, which is the case with 
- these specimens*. The older male and female have a strong tinge of 
rusty yellow on the back, which is less apparent in the younger speci- 
mens. In one of the adult females the rust-red hairs of the crest are 
tipped with black, but in the others this does not occur. The rump is 
clear gray. The tail is extremely short and is of the same color as the 
adjacent parts. 
An examination of the skulls of the two males indicates that N. 
Kirkii, described by Dr. Gunther with V. damarensis, may be the young 
of the latter. The comparisons of cranial characters are unfortunately 
made between N. Kirkit and N. saltianus, which are much less closely 
allied than NV. Kirkii and N. damarensis. 
Of the five characters brought forward the first, second, and fifth are 
common to NV. Kirkii and N. damarensis. The third relates to the shape 
and size of the nasal bones. In WN. Kirkii, “their posterior margins 
form an almost straight transverse line,” while in N. damarensis they 
form an acute angle as in N. saltianus. I find that in our younger 
skull the posterior angle is very obtuse, approximating, therefore, to the 
condition of NV. Kirkii, while in the older skull the angle is very acute, 
as much so as represented in Dr. Giinther’s figure of N. saltianus. In 
this older skull the nasals extend backward to the line of the anterior 
margin of the orbits, while the younger skull represents an intermediate 
condition between this and that of NV. Hirkii. 
It would appear that the size and shape of the nasals are not to be 
relied upon, since they are so largely affected by age. 
One character only remains. The angle of the mandible is repre- 
sented as very prominent in N. Kirkii. It is much more so than in 
either of our skulls, which should not be the case if the skull figured 
by Dr. Giinther were merely a younger individual of the same species 
as our specimens. It is possible that this character is of some value 
in distinguishing N. Kirkii from N. damarensis. 
An examination of the subjoined measurements of the skulls will bring 
out the differences in the size and position of nasal bones and other 
characters dependent upon age: 
* A skin of N. saltiana from Somali, which Dr. Sclater has recently sent to the 
Museum, confirms this fact. The only differences which I can detect are that in 
NV. saltiana the cheeks and back of the neck are clear gray instead of tawny, while 
the tawny color of the flanks is darker and stronger than in N. damarensis. 
