THE ZooLocist—Marcu, 1875. - 4357 
to the farmer in clearing his land from grubs. It is always seen in 
the open country, and rarely takes to the bush. 
R. B. & J. D. S. Woopwarp. 
(To be continued.) 
The Soko or Doko of Central and South Africa. 
In Dr. Livingstone’s ‘ Last Journal’ *—that melancholy and frag- 
mentary record of the wanderings of one of our greatest explorers— 
we find an animal brought under our notice which acquired a 
mythical celebrity years ago, under a name all but identical with 
that now in use among the Manyuema in South Africa, where the 
creature seems to be sufficiently abundant to have enabled the 
natives to become very familiar with its habits. In the long- 
published accounts of the Doko he is supposed a human being, 
normally inhabiting trees, but often descending to the ground. In 
Livingstone’s narrative the Soko is an ape and nothing more; but 
although he thus loses in importance, he gains in clearness of 
definition, for no one, after the creature has been seen and handled 
by a Livingstone, will doubt its existence. It must, I think, occur to 
every reader of the ‘ Zoologist’ how greatly the Messrs. Woodward, 
the authors of the paper immediately preceding this, might add to our 
knowledge of the soko if they would diligently prosecute enquiries 
respecting this most interesting animal.— Edward Newman. 
| Dr. Waller’s Editorial Note prefixed to ihe Narrative-—The 
subjoined account of the soko—which is in all probability an 
entirely new species of chimpanzee,-and not the gorilla—is ex- 
ceedingly interesting, and no doubt Livingstone had plenty of 
stories from which to select. Neither Susa nor Chama can identify 
the soko of Manyuema with the gorilla as we have it stuffed in the 
British Museum. They think, however, that the soko is quite as 
large and as strong as the gorilla, judging by the specimens [of 
the gorilla] shown to them, although they could have decided with 
greater certainty if the natives had not invariably brought in dead 
sokos disembowelled; as they point out, and as we imagine from 
Dr. Livingstone’s description, the carcase would then appear much 
less bulky. 
* «The last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa from 1868 to his 
Death.’ Edited by Horace Waller, F.R.G.S. 
SECOND SERIES—VOL. x. N 
