Aug. 31, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



20' 



Natural fgfetors* 



THE SING-SING ANTELOPE. 

 True Africa — the Ethiopian region of Sclater and 

 Wallace — is remarkable for its number of antelopes, 

 which seem here to replace the deer of Asia, Europe, and 

 America, never found to the south of the Great Desert. 



to the south of the Sahara — vary exceedingly little 

 throughout a vast range of country. Hence there has 

 arisen confusion. A traveller observing some unrecorded 

 animal, say in the south of Abyssinia, gave it a distinct 

 name, though in reality it might be merely a local varia- 

 tion of some species which has already been described 

 from some distant side of the continent. 



Such is the case with the " sing-sing " antelope 



The Sing-Sing Antelope (Kobits sing-sing). 



From deer, which they much resemble in form, in diet, 

 and in general habits, the atvVe lopes are most easily dis- 

 tinguished by their horns. The horns, or antlers, of 

 deer are shed and renewed annually, and consist of solid 

 bony matter throughout. The h o rns of the antelopes, like 

 those of oxen, are permanent structures, each consisti ng 

 of a so-called " core," a bony process of the skull whi ch 

 supports a sheath of horny matter. This matter is in 

 its chemical composition very distinct from bone, and 

 differs little from that of hair, nails, skin, etc. 



The animals of Africa proper — that is, the part lying 



{Kobus sing-sing), a figure of which we here borrow 

 from La Nature. 



The Jardin des Plantes has quite a herd of these fine 

 animals, the issue of a male and two females brought 

 in 1880 from the Senegal by M. Briere de l'lske, who 

 had been governor of that colony. 



These " kobs," as they are called in Senegambia, are 

 of a robust but elegant form. Their pointed horns 

 diverge like the arms of an ancient lyre, and are then 

 again slightly curved inwards at the extremities. They 

 are marked with rings for two-thirds of their length. 



