Miscellaneous. 341 



between the British Museum and that of Maidstone. There is also 

 a fair map, on which the ship's course during the cruise is traced. 

 This was as follows : — Sydney to Norfolk Island, thence to Nine 

 or Savage Island, the Samoa group, the Friendly group (from Vavau, 

 already mentioned, in the north to Tongataboo in the south), then 

 to the Eeejees and across to Anatom, then northward through the 

 New Hebrides and Banks Islands to Santa Cruz, thence to some 

 half dozen of the Solomon group, back again to Eramango in the 

 New Hebrides, and thence by the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia 

 to Sydney. The book has the great merit of an Index. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On a neiv Species of Bubaline (Alcelaphus tora) from Abyssinia. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, E.B.S. &c. 



The British Museum in the early part of the year received a young 

 specimen of a Bubaline from Abyssinia, which bore so much re- 

 semblance to the Caama from South Africa that I did not venture 

 to describe it as a distinct species until I should receive more 

 materials. The Museum has just received the skin &c. and the 

 skeletons of adult specimens of both sexes of this animal, which 

 proves to be a most distinct and well-marked species. 



These animals were sent to the Museum under the name of "Tora " 

 or " Thora " (for the word is spelt in both ways) ; I therefore propose 

 to call it Alcelaphus tora. 



Alcelaphus tora. 



Bright pale bay ; rump, inside of ears, and hinder side of legs 

 whitish brown ; tail with a tuft of black bristles. Horns slender, 

 expanded, and rather recurved at the tip ; of the female slender. 



Hab. Abyssinia (Dembelas). 



The horns are slender compared with the other species of Alcela- 

 phus, and have some relation to those of the Sassayby, or Damalis 

 lunatus ; but it has the long slender skull of Alcelaphus. The young 

 specimen, which appears to be a male, has shorter and thicker horns 

 than the two adults more lately received. 



The male of the Tora {Alcelaphus tora) has a large, round, 

 convex tuft, about the size of a penny piece or larger, of darker hair 

 in front of each eye. This tuft is marked, but not so distinctly, in 

 the head of the young male and adult female. I do not find any 

 such tuft in the head of the male Bubaline in the Museum, which 

 was for many years alive in the Zoological Gardens ; but the hair of 

 the sides of the head in front of the eyes is longer than on the rest of 

 the face. 



A young specimen of the Caama is figured, from a living specimen 

 in the Earl of Derby's park, in the ' Knowsley Menagerie.' 



