CEPHALOPUS NATALENSIS. 
slender at the points. Ears broad, 
short, and pointed ; muzzle and 
outer 
edges of nostrils bare. Tail 
slightly tufted and bare underneath. 
Hoofs 
long, slender and pointed. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Ft. Inch. 
Ft. 
Inch. 
Length from the nose to the base of the tail 
2 
Length of the hinder legs 
1 
03 
of the tail 
0 4 
Distance between the eye and the ear... 
0 
2 
of the head 
0 
between the nose and the eye 
0 
3 
of the ears 
0 2i 
Height at the croup 
1 
6 
of the horns * 
o ii 
at the shoulder 
l 
3 i 
of the fore legs 
0 Hf 
Female unknown. 
Taking Anlilope silvicultrix, Afzelius, and A. mergens, Blain., as the typical species of a 
group, we shall find no difficulty in extending it by an addition of several other species of 
African origin, which, both in respect of physiognomy and general characters, manifest such 
a striking similarity to the typical species, that persons the least accustomed to judge of 
resemblances, will scarcely even find a difficulty in indicating them. Hence Cephalopus 
must be regarded as a regular and natural group, and one likely to stand when those instituted 
upon characters, deduced from the mere modifications presented by aberrant species, will 
require to be discarded. The little animal we have here described, under the name of C 
Natalensis, is clearly entitled to a place in the group in question ; and though both it and 
Antilope cwrulea (H. Smith), have certain characters peculiar to themselves, yet they have all 
the requisites essential to rank them in the genus Cephalopus. In both of these species the 
female as well as the male is always furnished with horns, and in this respect they differ 
from the other species of the group which occur in South Africa,— the females of which are 
almost always found without horns, yet individuals are occasionally killed in which they exist ; 
hence it would appear that their presence or absence ought not to be highly considered in 
establishing the generic characters. Both C. ceerulea and C. Natalensis inhabit the African 
forests ; the former towards the Cape of Good Hope, the latter to the eastward about and 
beyond Port Natal. They both feed partly upon the grass which occurs among the underwood, 
and partly upon the young leaves and shoots of the brushwood and small trees which exist in 
the situations they inhabit ; and to obtain the latter they may occasionally be seen scrambling 
among shrubs, or ascending the stem of sloping trees, so as to reach what they cannot attain 
while they are on the ground. 
