288 MR. A. L. BUTLER ON THE GIANT [Apr. 18, 



7. On the Giant Eland of the Bahr el Grhazal, Taurotragus 

 derhianus gigas (Heugi.). Bj A. L. Butlee, F.Z.S., 

 Superintendent of Game Preservation, Soudan. 



[Received March 21, 1905.] 



It is with great pleasure that I at last find myself able to 

 give a fairly accurate description of the Giant Eland of the 

 Bahr el Ghazal — the grandest of all African antelopes. 



The name Boselaphus gigas was given to the Eland of this 

 region by Von Heuglin in 1863, and was based only on a massive 

 pair of horns v/hich measured 35 inches in length and 32 inches 

 between the tips. Later on, the observations of Schweinfurth 

 proved that this Eland belonged to a striped form, but from that 

 day until now no complete description of the animal has ever been 

 recorded. 



In the ' Book of Antelopes ' this Eland is treated as a subspecies 

 of Tatirotragus oryx, but, naturally, no description of the animal 

 being available, Messrs. Sclater & Thomas were very doubtfvil 

 where to place it. Thus (' Book of Antelopes,' vol. iv. p. 199) 

 they say : — " In these respects (the great size of the horns and 

 the presence of white stripes) it would seem to appi-oach Tauro- 

 tragus derhiamis, but Schweinfurth says nothing about the black 

 neck of that species." And on p. 208 they remark : — " It may be 

 identical with Taurotragus oryx livingstonii, but as Heuglin has 

 given it a name we will allow him the benefit of the doubt for the 

 present, and will call this northern striped form Taurotragus 

 oryx gigas until further investigations have been made." 



This name I have ventured to alter to Taurotragus derhianus 

 gigas, as there is now no doubt whatever that the animal is no 

 subspecies of Taurotragus oryx, but a vexy close ally of the West- 

 African Eland. With this it agrees in its large, wide ears, in 

 having the neck black with a shai-ply defined white posterior 

 margin, in the black on the lower surface, in the stripes, and in 

 the black patches above the inside of the knees. (These patches 

 are present also in T. oryx, bvit absent or only faintly grey in 

 T. oryx livingstonii, from which the Bahr el Ghazal Eland proves 

 to be quite distinct.) Indeed, from T. derbianus the Soudan 

 form seems to difier only in its much lighter body-colour (a pale 

 " cafe-au-lait " fawn instead of a rich ruddy brown), in the 

 greyish white of the black-maned dewlap, and in carrying even 

 grander horns. 



I have from time to time been able to examine nine pairs of 

 horns of this Eland, and they are wonderfully large and massive. 

 The finest pair I myself have handled measured 39| inches 

 (straight) in length and 39 inches between the tips, but several 

 of the other heads were very little inferior. It is probable that 

 a length exceeding 40 inches is occasionally attained. What seem 



