130 Mr. M. A. C. Hinton on the Klipspri'ngers of 



Eight distinct forms have been recognized hitherto ; and 

 to these 1 liave now to add tliree, described below. As 

 regards tlie status of these forms, several of them have been 

 accorded full specific rank by their describers. In the 

 ' Catalogue of Ungulates ' (vol. ii. p. 125) Lydekker and 

 Blaine treat them all as subspecies of 0. oreo^ra^ws, originally 

 described from Cape Colony. Since these forms are strictly 

 vicarious, and since the material available is far from being 

 sufficient to enable one to form a sound judgment upon the 

 question of their inter-relationships, this seems to be the 

 proper course. 



One of the most interesting subspecies is 0. o. aceratos, 

 described (as a species) from the Lindi Hinterland, in the 

 southern part of " German East Africa " (now Tanganyika 

 Territory), by Noack ^ and later by Neumann f. While in 

 all other subspecies hitherto described (with the exception of 

 U. 0. aureus, Heller) the general colour of the dorsal surface 

 is dull and uniform, in aceratos it is bright, and there is, 

 according to the published descriptions, a marked contrast 

 between the fore and hind parts. The fore-parts are 

 unusually brightly coloured, reddish or ochraceous ; the 

 hind-parts grey or "roe-coloured.'^ The material now before 

 me, appertaining to aceratos and to the allied forms described 

 below from Hhodesia and Angola, bears out the original 

 descriptions, in so far as the brilliant coloration of the fore- 

 parts is concerned. But, as regards the loins and rump, 

 while some of the specimens have these regions grey and 

 contrasted, in others the bright tints, in a diminishing degree 

 of intensity, may be traced backwards almost or quite to the 

 rump. The material (in part undated) does not allow one to 

 decide whether this variation is seasonal, sexual, or merely 

 individual ; but I am inclined to think that when the coat is 

 first assumed in aceratos and similar subspecies, it is bright- 

 coloured throughout, and that later on the particoloured 

 a})pearance of the back is produced by bleaching of the 

 ochraceous rings of the hairs clothing the runjp and loins. 



Until recently the only specimens representing aceratos in 

 the Museum were some from the neighbourhood of Zomba, 

 Is'} asaland, and from [Southern Angoniland, which had been 

 identified with Noack's animal by Neumann. Some speci- 

 mens from the Chinsali District of North-eastern Rhodesia 

 have also been referred by Lydekker and Blaine to aceratos. 



* Zool. Anz. xxii. p. 11 (1899). 



t S.-I3. Ges. natf. Fr. Berlin, 1902, p. 169. 



