140 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE [Feb. 21, 



five to seven on each side ; but in no case are they strongly definerl, 

 and in the example showing seven, two at least are abbreviated 

 and only just discernible. Their whole appearance, indeed, sug- 

 gests evanescence. 



With these data to hand, there seems to be no cause for further 

 delay in concluding that a difference between the Greater Kudus 

 of the northern and southern areas of the species' range not only 

 exists, but is sufficiently definable and constant to be accorded 

 subspecific rank. And since the specific name was applied origi- 

 nally to the southern form, which as a subspecies takes a repetition 

 of that title, a different racial name must be found for the northern. 

 There is no need, however, to publish a new one. In the 'Book of 

 Antelopes ' the following thi-ee are cited as synonyms of tStrepsi- 

 ceros capensis, the denomination under which the species wrongly 

 appears in that work : — 



Antilope tendal Oretzschmar, Atlas to Riippell's ' Reise im nordl. 

 Afrika,' p. 22 (1826); Fischer, Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829). 



Antilope chora iid. ibid. 



Strepsiceros abyssimcus Fitzinger, SB. Akad. Wien, lix. pt. 1, 

 p. 176 (1869). 



Abovit the rightful claims of the first name to stand for any kind 

 of Kudu there is, in my opinion, great doubt. The words " in 

 desertis" as applied to the habitat of Antilope tendal, sviggest 

 rather the Addax, a large-sized, spiiul-horned denizen of the 

 deserts of North Africa, which was probably known to the Arabs. 

 The name chora, however, is not to be lightly rejected. As in the 

 case of A. tendal, the animal is compared to a horse in size and 

 the horns are said to be powerful and spirally twisted in the male 

 and absent in the female. Moreover, the habitat, " in moritosis," 

 accords ticcurately with that of the Greater Kudus of Abyssinia 

 and Somaliland as attested by ti-avellers and sportsmen of more 

 m.odern times. There is no other African Antelope known to 

 which these attributes apply, the absence of the horns in the 

 female excluding any form of Eland which might otherwise be 

 suggested on the score of size and spirally-twisted horns. 



With regard to the third name, ahyssinicus, there is no room 

 for doubt, for, although unaccompanied by a diagnosis, it was 

 definitely assigned by Fitzinger to the form of Strepsiceros in- 

 habiting Abyssinia, Somaliland, Senaar, Kordofan, and Bogos- 

 land ; and these localities do not coincide, as a whole, with the 

 geographical range of the Lesser Kudu, the only other member 

 of the genus met with in North-east Africa, where it extends 

 from Somaliland and the Galla country to the Kilima Nja.ro 

 district. Since, however, the name chora antedates ahyssinicus 

 by many years, I see no escape from the conclusion that the 

 name for the northern race of the Gi'eater Kudvi is Strep)siceros 

 strepsiceros chora, with ahyssinicios as a synonym ; and in that case 

 the trinominal title for the southern or typical race is Strepsiceros 



