i8o 



ANTELOPES 



from the steinbok under the barbarous name of Gry shock melanotis. If, 

 however, such a course be deemed necessary, it is the steinbok which 

 should be separated from Rhaphiceros, as has been proposed by Messrs. 

 Thomas and Schwann (see next page). 



SHARPE'S STEINBOK 

 (RJiaphiceros sJiarpei} 



Discovered in Angoni, Nyasaland, by Sir A. Sharpe in 1896, and 

 described, with a coloured plate, by Mr. O. Thomas in the Zoological 

 Society's Proceedings for the same year (p. 796), this species serves 

 to link the grysbok and steinbok so closely together that a generic 



separation between them seems uncalled for. 

 Sharpe's steinbok has, in fact, the stippled coat 

 of a grysbok coupled with the absence of the 

 lateral hoofs distinctive of the steinbok. 



This species, which appears to be rather 

 smaller than the steinbok, has the coat a rich 

 tawny rufous speckled with white hairs above ; 

 the colour being brighter than in either of the 

 allied species. The brown muzzle, although 

 darker in the middle, shows no distinct nose- 

 patch ; but there are crescentic black markings 

 on the crown of the head, as in the steinbok. 

 The ears, which are large, are thinly covered 

 with sparse and mostly whitish hairs. The short 

 tail is coloured like the back above and white 



below ; while the under-parts and limbs resemble those of the steinbok 

 in colouring. The horns are very short and conical. 



This steinbok is, as we have seen, typically from Nyasaland (in- 

 cluding northern Rhodesia), whence it extends into Barotsiland. South 

 of the Zambesi it is represented in the north-eastern Transvaal by 

 Rhaphiceros sharpei colonicus, a local race described by Messrs. Thomas 

 and Schwann on p. 584 of the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 

 1 906. Compared with the typical sharpei, it has rather longer feet, and 

 its colour is somewhat richer and more purplish, with a larger inter- 

 mixture of white hairs. The throat, chest, and under-parts are purplish 

 buff, in place of white or whitish with a mere tinge of buff. In stature 

 the Transvaal slightly exceeds the Nyasa race. The former is found 

 on grassy hill-sides dotted with trees. 



FIG. 40. Skull and Horns 

 of Sharpe's Steinbok. 



