Fan. 26, 1882] 
NATURE 
297 
cent number of the Proceedings (see Proc. Zool. Soc., | 
1881, p. 626, pl. liv.). Of the allied Gemsbuck of South 
Africa, well-known to the sportsmen of the Cape, though, 
according to Mr. Selous, now entirely confined to the arid | 
deserts of the south-west, the Zoological Society have not, | 
of late years at least, been able to exhibit living speci- 
mens. But the celebrated collection of the late Lord 
Derby formerly contained examples of both sexes, and the 
young, bred at Knowsley, is figured in the volume entitled | 
“ Gleanings from the Knowsley Menagerie.’ 
The Thar also extends into Cashmere, and was found 
by Dr. A. Leith Adams to be common on the Pir Pinjal 
ranges, and still more so on the mountains on the banks 
of the Chenab, near Kistewar. 
The first example of this wild goat received by the Zoo- 
logical Society was obtained in 1852, and lived some years 
in the Menagerie (see Wolf and Sclater, Zool. Sketches, 
ser. i. t. xxv.). After the death of this animal the species” 
remained unrepresented in the collection until 1880, 
when the examples now in the Gardens were presented to 
To the three species above-mentioned of the genus | the Zoological Society by the Prince of Wales. His Royal 
Oryx, which have long been known to naturalists, a fourth | Highness, on his return from India in 1876, brought home 
was added some twenty years ago by the late Dr. Gray, | with him a pair of these animals, from which a young one 
who, in 1857, at one of the Zoological Society’s meetings 
(see Proc. Zool. Soc., 1857, p. 157, pl. lv.), described anew 
species based upon an animal received from Bombay, but | 
supposed to have been originally brought from some part 
on the Red Sea. This species, as Dr. Gray pointed out, 
is in some respects intermediate between the Gems- 
buck and the Leucoryx, having the straight 
horns of the former and the plain colour of the 
latter, but the dark legs and peculiar white feet 
at once separate it from both of them. 
The Beatrix Antelope (Oryx Beatrix), as it was 
named by Dr. Gray after the Royal Princess of 
that name, although thus clearly defined, and 
excellently figured by Mr. Wolf, remained a 
somewhat obscure species until 1872, when, sin- 
gularly enough, a second living example was 
received by Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., from 
Colonel Pelly, H.B.M. Resident at Bushire, and 
deposited in the Society's collection. In 1878a 
third example of the same antelope was received 
by the Society from Commander Burke, of the 
SS. Arcot This animal was obtained at Jedda, 
but was stated to have been originally captured 
in the Hedjez passes, some 150 miles in the 
interior of Arabia. 
The fourth example of this antelope, lately pre- 
sented to the Society by Lord Lilford, from which 
the present figure is taken (Fig. 11), comes from 
a still more definite locality. It was shipped to 
Lord Lilford by Lieut.-Col. S. B. Miles, British 
Consul at Muscat, with the information that it 
came from the great desert behind the moun- 
tainous district of Oman. It is now therefore 
abundantly evident from these four examples, 
which agree in all material points, that the 
Beatrix Antelope is a good and well-defined spe- 
cies, and that its native home is the interior of 
the Arabian peninsula, where it replaces the Beisa 
of the Abyssinian plateau. 
was produced. The male unfortunately died at Sand- 
ringham, so that only the mother and young (also of the 
female sex) were transferred to the Society. Fig. 12 re- 
presents the adult female, in which the horns, although 
nearly of the same character as in the male, are not so 
large or so well developed. 
12, The Thar (Capra jentlaica)—The pecu- 
liar Himalayan Goat, known to the Indian 
sportsmen as the Téhr, Thar, or Tahir, was first 
described in 1828 by Hamilton Smith, and named 
Capra jemlaica, from the district of Jemlab, to 
the north of Nepaul, in which his specimen was 
procured. It is found, however, as Dr. Jerden tells 
us, throughout “the whole extent of the Himalayas at 
great elevations, generally above the limits of forest and 
not far from the snow. It frequents rocky valleys and 
very steep and precipitous ground, and is often seen 
perched on what appear to be inaccessible crags. It feeds 
on the grassy spots among rocks, and though not unfre- 
quently solitary, is more generally seen in flocks, sometimes 
as numerous as twenty, thirty, or even forty. If alarmed 
whilst feeding, these animals all go off at full speed with 
a clattering sound, but soon halt and turn to gaze on the 
intruder. They generally follow the guidance of an old 
male, and will make their way up almost perpendicular 
precipices if there be but a few rough edges or crevices. 
In the north they are said to be sometimes seen in company 
with the Warkkor (Capra megaceros).? 
Fic. 13.—The Indian Darter. 
13. The Indian Darter (Plotus melanogaster).—The 
Darters form a very peculiar type of birds of the order 
Steganopodes, allied to the Cormorants in structure, but 
very Heron-like in gait and gesture. For several years 
the Zoological Society’s fish-house has not failed to con- 
tain one or more specimens of these birds, which have 
given us abundant opportunities of observing their pecu- 
liar mode of fishing. The Darter in its normal position 
sits erect upon a branch or stump overlooking the water. 
When proceeding to fish it dives head foremost into the 
stream, and swimming entirely under water, transfixes its 
finny prey with the rapidity of lightning. Emerging from 
the water with the fish speared upon its long slender 
beak, the Darter chucks the fish into the air, and catching 
it head foremost with unerring aim, swallows it whole. 
This peculiar and interesting mode of fish-catching may 
be witnessed every day when the Darters in the Zoo- 
