210 CLASS MAMMALIA. : 



the rear exceedingly lean, while the direction continues one 

 way ; but with the change of the monsoon, when they re- 

 turn towards the north, the rear become the leaders, fat 

 tening in their turn, and leaving the others to starve, and 

 to be devoured by the numerous enemies who follow their 

 march. At all times, when impelled by fear, either of the 

 hunter or the beast of prey, darting among the flock, but 

 principally when the herds are assembled in countless mul- 

 titude, so that an alarm cannot spread rapidly, and open 

 the means of flight, they are pressed against each other, 

 and their anxiety to escape, impels them to bound up in the 

 air, shewing, at the same time, the white spot on the croup 

 dilated by the effort, and closing again in their descent, 

 and producing that beautiful effect from which they have 

 obtained the name of Springer and Showy Bock. 



Though Sparrman seems to have first described it in a 

 satisfactory manner, the species must have been known, and 

 even brought alive to Europe at a much earlier period, there 

 being a good representation of this animal in a picture of 

 the Creation by the Velvet Breugel, who died about 1689. 

 We have compared six male and two female specimens. 

 It appears that albinism sometimes affects the colour of the 

 fur, for in Paris there is a specimen. of a white colour, re- 

 taining, nevertheless, the dark bands on the flanks and 

 croup, the streak near the eyes, and the fulvous spot on 

 the region of the horns, but the horns seem never to have 

 been developed, although the individual is somewhat 

 larger than the usual size : there is also a slight indication 

 of rufous on the arm and on the hind-legs, and the tips of 

 the ears are black. 



The Persian Antelope. (A. Subgutturosa.) The Dor- 

 cades are considered by many eminent naturalists, and 

 seemingly with some reason, as including within one spe- 

 cies, the Subgutturosa, the Dorcas, the Kevella, and Corinna. 

 There is, in truth, so much similarity in their size, horns, 



