INTRODUCTION 



MY labours in the preparation of the greater part of this 

 volume have been much lightened by Mr. Gilbert Elaine, 

 who has been good enough to examine, name, and catalogue 

 the specimens in the Collection. In regard to the classifica- 

 tion of the heterogeneous group of ruminants commonly 

 included under the designation of " antelopes," it has been 

 deemed advisable to follow the one adopted by Sclater and 

 Thomas in The Book of Antelopes, with such minor modifica- 

 tions as are necessary in order to bring it, so far as possible, 

 into accord with the emendations in regard to the position of 

 certain generic groups and the limitations of subfamilies 

 proposed by Mr. E, I. Pocock in his article on the 

 Cutaneous Scent-Glands of Euminants, published in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1910. 



In several cases considerable difficulty has been expe- 

 rienced with regard to the numerous local forms of African 

 antelopes for which separate subspecific names have been 

 proposed, as the specimens in the Collection are quite 

 insufficient to afford a clue as to the value of the characters 

 upon which these forms are based. When such forms are 

 from more or less widely sundered localities they have, as a 

 rule, been recognised as distinct ; but in cases where several 

 have been named from nearly adjacent, or even the same, 

 districts, their right to distinction has not been definitely 

 accepted, and the subspecific titles are merely entered 

 seriatim, under the heading of the species to which they 

 pertain. In all cases the responsibility for the recognition 

 of such local races rests with the writers by whom the names 

 were given, and not with myself. 



As in the preceding volume, special prominence has been 

 given to external characters, more particularly the horns, in 



