388 MR. O. THOMAS ON UNGULATES, [June 16, 



4. T. SPEKEI, Scl. 



Hah, Central and South-central Africa. Karagweh,W. of Victoria 

 Nyanza {Speke, 3Ius. Brit.) ; Chobe River, Upper Zambesi (Selous 

 and Chapman, Mus. Brit.); Lake Ngami {Green, Mus. Brit.; 

 Oswell, fide Brooke). 



The characters and ranges of these larger species may now help 

 us in the far more difficult task of the proper systematic arrangement 

 of the smaller forms, Tragelaphus scriptus and its allies. In the 

 larger Bush-bucks the four species are separated not only by colour, 

 number of spots, stripes, &c., but also by definite structural cha- 

 racters, such as the length of the hoofs, the presence or absence of 

 tufts of hair on the body, and the form of the horns ; while in the 

 smaller ones these characters are practically all identical. So far as 

 I can discover, it is impossible to distinguish the horns of the West- 

 African T. scriptus from those of the Abyssinian T. decula or the Cafie 

 T. syhaticus ; the hoof's are of the same length in all, and the quality 

 and distribution of the fur shows but little variation. It would 

 appear, then, that all the smaller Bush-bucks should be united as one 

 species, but that within this species four subspecies should be recog- 

 nized, these subspecies being practically based on colour alone. 

 T. decula alone is rather more distinct than the rest and might by 

 some authors be kept specifically separate, but more material from 

 intermediate localities is needed before this point can be satisfactorily 

 settled, and in the meantime it seems better to range it with T. scriptus 

 rather than to erect it into a sixth species of the genus, with, at the 

 best, characters so very much less in degree than those that separate 

 the other five. 



The synonymy and characters of the subspecies of T. scriptus may 

 be briefly given as follows : — 



5. T. SCRIPTUS, Pall. 



a. T. SCRIPTUS DECULA, RUpp. 



Antilope decula, Riipp. N. Wirb. Abyss, p. II, pi. iv. (1835). 



Form shorter and stouter than in other subspecies. General colour 

 more yellowish than rufous. Transverse bauds nearly obsolete, but 

 one high lateral longitudinal one present, sometimes broken into 

 spots : haunches only spotted ; dorsal line dark in both sexes. 

 Chest and belly little darker than back. 



Hab. Abyssinia. Salam River, Upper Atbara {Mus, Brit.); 

 Lake Dembea {Ruppell). 



b. T. SCRIPTUS TYPicus, Pall. 



Antilope scripta, Pall. Misc. Zool. p. 8 (176G) (e.r Buff.). 

 A.phalerata, H. Sm.. Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 2/5 (1827). 

 Colour bright rufous, brilliantly marked all over the body with 

 numerous white spots and both longitudinal and transverse stripes. 

 Dorsal band white in adult males. Chest with a blackish mane. 



Hab. "West, Central, and South-central Africa, covering very 

 much the combined ranges of T. gratus and T. spekei. Senegal 



