ORDER ARTIODACTYLA ! EVEN -TOED UNGULATES 653 



Cunene) , and the Okavango" (Baum, 1903, as quoted in Shortridge, 

 1934, vol. 2, p. 451) . The range of this subspecies lies in the extreme 

 western part of the Rhodesian Savanna District of Bowen (1933, 

 pp. 256, 259) . Possibly it extends south to about the Grootfontein 

 District of South-West Africa, where the transition from the Rhode- 

 sian Savanna District to the Kalahari Arid District seems to take 

 place. 



For the status of the species in northern South-West Africa, see 

 the preceding account of A. c. selbornei. 



Bontebok 



DAMALISCUS DORCAS (Pallas) 



Antilope Dorcas Pallas, Misc. ZooL, p. 6, 1766. (Type locality not given; 

 restricted by Harper (1940, p. 329) to "Kaffir Kuils River, in the River- 

 dale district, Cape Province.") 



SYNONYM: Antilope pygargus Pallas (1767). 



FIGS.: Schreber, Saugthiere, pi. 273, 1784; Harris, 1840, pi. 17; Gray. Glean- 

 ings Knowsley Menagerie, pi. 22, figs. 2-3, 1850; Millais, 1895, p. 235, fig.; 

 Sclater and Thomas, 1895, vol. 1, pi. 8, p. 77, fig. 10; Bryden, 1899, pi. 5, 

 fig. 5; W. L. Sclater, 1900, vol. 1, p. 139, fig. 4; Elliot, 1907, p. 57, fig. 12; 

 Lydekker, 1908, pi. 5, fig. 4; Maydon, 1932, pi. 107; Ward, 1935, p. 68, 

 fig.; Illus. London News, vol. 99, no. 2583, p. I (insert), 1936; Pocock, 1937, 

 p. 667, fig.; Leister, 1938, p. 77, fig.; Unspoilt Africa, Union National 

 Parks, p. 7, fig., 1938. 



Throughout historical times the Bontebok has apparently been 

 restricted to the southwestern corner of the Cape Province. It is 

 now extinct in a wild state, and only about a hundred individuals 

 survive in the Bontebok National Park near Bredasdorp and on a 

 few adjacent farms. (Warden of Kruger National Park, in litt., 

 1937; Kaffrarian Museum, in litt., March, 1937.) 



Anterior half of back rufous fawn ; crown, sides of face and neck, 

 flanks, thighs, anterior half of rump, and upper part of limbs vary- 

 ing from very rich dark brown to blackish; whole front of face 

 covered with a white blaze (brown in immature animals) , narrower 

 above the eyes; rump-patch, belly, and lower limbs (except dark 

 line in front), white. Height at shoulder, 40 inches. Horns black, 

 sublyrate, with 15-16 ridges; record length, 16f inches. (Sclater and 

 Thomas, 1895, vol. 1, p. 74; Selous, 1914, p. 84; Ward, 1935, p. 66.) 



Selous (in Bryden, 1899, pp. 175-179) was the first to point out 

 that the ranges of the Bontebok and the Blesbok are entirely distinct ; 

 previously there had been much confusion in the names of these 

 two very similar species. 



Selous writes (1914, pp. 83-86) : 



Ages ago, no doubt, the common ancestors of the bontebok and the blesbok 

 had a continuous range over all the open plains of South Africa from Cape 



