RECOGNITION-MARKS 161 



as weapons of defence — for even the lion is occasionally 

 killed by the horns of the gemsbuck — have been so changed 

 in each species as to serve another purpose, as is so often 

 the case in nature. Their curious modifications of form in 

 closely allied species, and their extreme diversity in the 

 whole group, leads me to conclude that their actual shapes 

 have been produced quite as much for purposes of recogni- 

 tion as for attack or defence. While moving among high 

 grass or bushes, or when at rest and " ruminating," the horns 

 would often be the only part visible at a distance ; and this, 

 in a district inhabited by perhaps a dozen different species 

 of these animals, would be of the greatest importance in 

 guiding a wanderer back to his own herd, and for other 

 purposes. To illustrate this I here give views of the horns 

 or heads of twelve different species of antelopes all found 

 in Central or South Africa, and thus often meeting in the 

 same valley or veldt. To these I call the reader's special 

 attention (Figs. 24-35). 



The first group of four shows two of the larger antelopes 

 at the top, which, with a general likeness of form, possess 

 individuality both in face-marks and in the curvature of the 



I horns ; while the two gazelles at the bottom are still more 

 distinct. The second group shows, at the top, the two species 

 of kudu, the horns of which, though exactly alike in spiral 

 curvature, are yet placed at such a different angle on the 

 head as to be easily distinguishable. The two lower figures 

 are of animals not closely allied, but, as one inhabits East 

 and the other South Africa, their ranges probably overlap 

 each other, or once did so. Here there is a somewhat similar 

 bend in the horns, but their thickness and direction render 

 them absolutely distinct from every point of view. The third 



I group consists of three species of the genus Cobus, in 

 which the horns are each so distinct in size and curva- 

 ture as to be easily recognisable at considerable distances ; 

 the fourth figure shows the horns of the gemsbuck, a very 

 distinct species, not only in the body markings but also in 

 the almost perfectly straight and very long horns. 



Now, as the antelopes are very closely allied to each 

 other, both in structure and external form, it seems im- 

 probable that all the diversities in the horns (which are 



M 



I 



