48 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE LESSER KOODOO. [Feb. 5, 



Strepsiceros imberbis. (Plate IV.) 



Antilope tendal, Cretzschmar, in Riipp. Atl. p. 22, 1826 (?). 



Damalis capensis, Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr. pi. xlii. (?). 



Strepsiceros kudu, Horsf. Cat. Maram. Mus. E. I. Co. p. 1/0 

 (part.). 



Strepsiceios kudu, var. 1, Gray, Cat. Mamm. iii. p. 134 (1852). 



Strepsiceros imberbis, Blyth, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 54 et p. 58 ; Brooke, 

 P. Z.S. 1875, p. 470. 



Strepsiceros tendal, Gray, Cat. of Rum. B. M. p. 46 (1872). 



SimilisS. kudu, sedcrassitie valde minor e et maris cervice imberbi 

 distinguendus. 



Hub. Somali-land. 



Dr. Gray in bis most recent catalogues has used the specific name 

 " tendal " for tbis Antelope, under the supposition tbat it may be 

 the Antilope tendal very shortly mentioned by Cretzschmar in a 

 footnote in Ruppell's Atlas. Cretzschmar's description is based only 

 on native reports of an Antelope called " Tendal," which is more 

 probably the larger Koodoo. At any rate it would not be right to 

 oust Blyth's name in favour of one so imperfectly characterized. 



I think there is little doubt that the specimen brought by Sir W. 

 C. Harris from Sboa, Southern Abyssinia, and formerly in the East- 

 India Company's Museum, belongs to the smaller Koodoo. It is now 

 in the National Collection, where I have examined it. It is in 

 a very bad condition, the hair and markings of the body having 

 almost entirely disappeared. It is a stuffed specimen, and stands 

 about 45 inches in height. The length of the body is about 40 

 inches, that of the horns 18, of the ears 7 inches. 



Whether "Damalis capensis," as represented on plate 42 of 

 Smith's ' Illustrations,' really belongs to S. imberbis, as supposed 

 by Blyth, is, I think, very doubtful. It is true the neck has no 

 fringe, but the horns have the open spiral of Sir. kudu, and, so far 

 as we know at present, Str. imberbis is only met with for certain in 

 Somali-land. 



P.S. (March 28). — Since I read this paper Mr. F. Holmwood, 

 H.B.M. Consul, Zanzibar, has kindly favoured me with the following 

 note on this Antelope : — 



"I have seen the Dwarf Koodoo in the neighbourhood of the 

 Juba river, which is exactly under the Equator. I have heard 

 from the natives that the " Sikoro," as they call it, is found from 

 about 2°N. to 2°S. of the coast; but as at 60° S. the ordinary 

 Koodoo is " Msikoro," it is not safe to trust to native information. 

 The Dwarf Koodoos that I saw on two occasions were in herds of 

 three and four individuals respectively ; but in neither case was I 

 near enough to observe more than that the animals were of about 

 the same size as the Beisa (Gryx beisa), but of a redder colour. 

 The species is not rare on the Juba, but the country is dangerous 

 for Europeans. 



