1889.] DR. A. GUNTHER ON A NEW ANTELOPE. 73 



4. Description of a new Antelope from Southern Central 

 Africa. By Dr. A. GuntheRj F.R.S.^ Keeper of the 

 Zoological Department^ British Museum. 



[Keceived February 18, 1889.] 



A short time ago Mr. Morton Green, a resident and J.P. in Natal, 

 brought to the Museum, beside several other interesting horns of 

 Antelopes, a very singular head of a type of Antelope which evidently 

 has hitherto escaped observation. Mr. Green stated that he had 

 never seen the like of it during the thirty years he resided on the 

 frontiers of Natal, nor could he ascertain from any hunter that he 

 had seen the Antelope alive. He obtained this specimen many years 

 ago through a hunter who went trading for him into the Zambezi 

 region. This man told him that he had bartered it from a native 

 chief who told him that the animal was extremely scarce. Mr. 

 Green not being able to obtain any further information in the colony, 

 has brought it now to England, with the object of seeing it deposited 

 in a public Museum, where the information as to the mode of its 

 acquisition would be preserved. 



The horns are evidently those of a very old animal ; of the skull, 

 unfortunately, only a portion of the frontal bones is preserved. The 

 horns are gently curved backwards, showing the slightest indication 

 of a twist near to the top ; they measure thirty-one inches along the 

 curve, and thirty in a straight hne from the base to the tip. The 

 distance of their ends is twenty-two inches. A transverse section 

 taken three inches from their base would represent a triangle, the 

 posterior side of which is slightly longer than the outer one ; at this 

 portion the horn is broader from side to side than from the front 

 backwards. In about the middle of the length of the horn the 

 transverse section becomes an isosceles triangle, passing into a 

 circular shape in the last fourth of the length. 



The trihedral shape of the basal half of the horn is produced by 

 a prominent, but obtuse ridge in front of the horn ; this ridge is in 

 the median line at the base of the horn, runs then a little inside of 

 the median line for a short distance, and is fiually directed towards 

 the outside of the horn, disappearing altogether in the distal conical 

 portion. The posterior side of the horn is remarkably flat and broad. 



The annulations are distinct only in the basal portion and very 

 obscure further on, the distal half being smooth. The annuli are 

 very low, separated from each other by shallow grooves, and provided 

 with narrow concentric wrinkles on the posterior side of the horn. 



The cranial base of the horns is broad and flat, without enlarge- 

 ment of the bone. The least distance between the bases of the 

 horns is two and a half inches. The supraciliary foramina are 

 situated opposite to the middle of each horn, distant from it about 

 one inch. The distance between these foramina is three inches. 



Of tlie known genera of Antelopes none approach this singular 

 type more nearly than Tragelaphus. Tragelaphus has, likewise, 



