46 
By modern authorities, almost without exception, the present Antelope has 
been called the “ Leucoryx, Oryx leucoryx,” and it is well known by this 
name in the Museums and Zoological Gardens of Europe. But when 
we proceed to investigate the strict claims of the present animal to this title, 
a difficult question presents itself. The Antilope leucoryx of Pallas in all 
probability, and certainly the Antilope leucoryx of succeeding authors until 
about 1827, was not the present species, but, as will be clearly shown in our 
next article, the Beatrix. 
Buffon, in his ‘ Histoire Naturelle,’ called the present species “ UA/gazel,” 
and Pallas and his followers named it Antelope gazella. But the term 
“« gazella,” as we shall presently show, had been previously appropriated by 
Linneus to the allied Gemsbok of Southern Africa. The fact is that most of 
the early authors had no clear ideas as to the distinctive characters of the 
present animal, and habitually confounded it both with the Beatrix of Arabia 
and the Gemsbok of the Cape. 
The earliest travellers of modern days to meet with the Leucoryx in 
its native wilds and to transmit perfect specimens of it home to Europe 
were the well-known German naturalists Hemprich and Ehrenberg, who 
explored Nubia, Arabia, and the adjoining countries from 1820 to 1825. 
Unfortunately Lichtenstein, who first described and figured their specimens 
of this Antelope about the year 1827, chose to identify it with the Antilope 
leucoryx of Pallas and to employ Pallas’s name for it. In the ‘Symbole 
Physice,’ in which Hemprich and Ehrenberg’s own account of their expedi- 
tion was given to the world in 1828, Lichtenstein’s example of using Antilope 
leucoryx as the scientific name of the present species was followed. 
Hemprich and Ehrenberg state that they had originally intended to have 
called this species Antilope ensicornis, but that they eventually gave up their 
proposed designation for the term adopted by Lichtenstein. The same was 
the case also with nearly all the leading authorities subsequent to Lichten- 
stein, so that to attempt to restore the name “ lewcorya” to what is probably 
its proper owner would now only create confusion. We prefer therefore to 
designate the present species as Oryx leucorya (Licht.), to which name it is 
undoubtedly entitled. 
After giving an accurate description of the present animal, and figures of 
the two specimens brought home, which, although of not first-rate quality, . 
are perfectly recognizable, Hemprich and Ehrenberg inform us that they 
met with it in Dongola, between Ambukol on the Upper Nile and Simrie 
