SITUTUNGA BUSHBUCK 299 



silkiness of the hair. The horns, which are nearly smooth and strongly 



keeled, form nearly two complete turns, and thus approximate to those 



of the kudu. 



Distribution, The situtunga is an inhabitant of the dense reed-swamps 

 bordering the rivers of Central, South-Central, and East Africa. 

 The form inhabiting the Zambesi and Chobi valleys has been 

 separated as T. seloitsi, on account of the female being coloured 

 like the male. These antelopes are semi - aquatic in habits, 

 frequently burying themselves up to the eyes in the water. 

 Consequently they are some of the most difficult of all antelopes 

 to kill ; and have even baffled the energy of Mr. Selous. By 

 firing the reed -beds in the dry season, the natives are able to 

 spear the situtunga as they cross open water. At night these ante- 

 lopes leave the reed-brakes for the islands in the rivers, but before 

 dawn return to their impenetrable covert. Mr. A. B. Phipps, in a 

 letter dated October 1895, states that they have become very 

 rare in the swamps bordering the Okavango River, owing to that 

 river having changed its course and ceased to flow into the Botletli. 

 Consequently they go down to the latter for water, and are shot. 

 A few are found on a bush-clad rocky island far out in the Victoria 

 Nyanza ; in which neighbourhood the species was first discovered 

 by the late Captain Speke. Some writers separate the members 

 of the long-hooped group as Limnotragus.- 



Length. 



Circum- Tip to 



On front Straight ference. Tip. Locality. Owner, 



curve. line. 



35$ 28 8 15! Lake Mweru . . Hon. Walter Rothschild. 



35 28 7\ 15^ South end of Lake John Yule. (See illustration. ) 



Tanganyika 

 -334 27! 7| 19 Julius Jeppe. 



33i 26J 8 i6 Okavango Valley . Sir H. J. Goold-Adams. 



-33 ... ... ... ? Alfred Ebden. 



3 2 I 27! 7 a6| Chinde . . . Hon. Walter Rothschild. 



32 27 7 i6 Chobi Valley . F. C. Selous. 



-32| ... 74 i8| ? P. C. Keytel. 



31$ 25! 8| 17^ Near Linyanti . F. C. Selous. 



31^ 24! 7 i6| Chobi Valley . . British Museum (F. C. Selous.) 



31^ 25^ "]\ 13^ Bangweolo . . . F. Smitheman. 



-3 1 ! 2 5T 9 u 7 1 Ml Congoland . . Paris Museum (S. cle Brazza). 



