1900.] ON A COLLECTION OF HEADS OF ANTELOPES ETC. 949 



December 18, 1900. 

 Dr. Albert Gunthee, F.E.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of November 1900 : — 



The total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of November was 143, of which 41 were by 

 presentation, 8 by purchase, 84 were received on deposit, and 

 10 were born in the Menagerie. The total number of departures 

 duriDg the same period, by death and removals, was 138. 



Mr. Sclater stated that he had much admired the fine collection 

 of heads of Antelopes and other animals exhibited by Major A. 

 St. Hill Gibbons at the Meeting of the Eoyal Geographical Society 

 on the 10th inst., when Major Gibbons gave an account of his 

 remarkable journey across Africa. Major Gibbons had kindly 

 sent three of these specimens of special interest to be laid before 

 the Society's Meeting to-night. The first of these was the skull 

 and horns of the Square-mouthed Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus ?) 

 shot by Major Gibbons near Lado on the Upper Nile, about 

 5° N. lat., as already recorded by Mr. Thomas in ' Nature ' 

 (vol. lxii. p. 599, Oct.' 18, 1900). This discovery, as Mr. Thomas 

 had already pointed out, was of very great interest, as no authentic 

 evidence of the existence of the square-mouthed form of Rhinoceros 

 north of the Zambesi River had been previously produced. 



Two mounted heads belonging to two different forms of the 

 Topi Antelope, obtained by Major Gibbons, were likewise exhibited. 

 One of these, obtained on the "White Nile, was no doubt the Tiang 

 (Damaliscus tiang) 1 . The other, obtained on the plains to the 

 south of Lake Albert Edward, was probably the typical Topi 

 (D.jimela)'-, but required further comparison. 



Major Gibbons, who was present, then gave the following par- 

 ticulars concerning the two species of Topi Antelope which he had 

 met with : — 



I first saw the larger Topi (Damaliscus jimela ?) some 25 miles 

 south of Lake Albert Edward. As I neared the lake they became 

 quite common and were frequently to be seen in small herds up to 

 12. It is improbable at least that their range extends south of about 

 1° S. lat., where, except for the lava valley running from the Kirunga 

 volcanoes northwards, the country is very mountainous and wholly 

 unsuited to the requirements of this class of Antelope. So, too, the 

 great mountain-range stretching high and deep from the N.W. of 

 Kivu along the shores of the Albert Edward to Ruenzori and 

 beyond in all probability has barred their expansion westwards. 

 To the east of the Albert Edward the country, though hilly, is 

 not without plains and valleys, and it is probable that this antelope 



1 Sclater & Thomas, ' Book of Antelopes,' i. p. 63. 

 * Ibid. p. 67. 



62* 



