BUSHBUCKS, KOODOOS, AND ELANDS 477 
inches, but the horn direction varies greatly, and specimens 
exceeding 18 inches in spread sometimes occur. 
The eland are to a considerable extent local in distribu¬ 
tion, but they inhabit widely different sorts of country, from 
dry desert bush to moist highland meadows. In East 
Africa they have been found in the low desert district near 
the Taita Hills by Jackson. Selous has found skulls as far 
north as the Lorian swamp in the midst of the northern 
desert. These no doubt represent the skulls of eland which 
have strayed down the Northern Guaso Nyiro River from 
its headwaters on the Laikipia Plateau and perished in 
the desert, as they are not known on the lower reaches of 
the river. In the Nile Valley they reach the east bank of the 
Nile, and are there only separated by the river from the 
territory occupied by the giant eland. Lydekker has sug¬ 
gested that in this region intermediate individuals might 
be looked for, which would bridge the gap existing between 
the two species. Upon this point we can assure him that 
the difference in skull structure and shape of ears and 
horns are of too fundamental a character to permit such an 
assumption. The region east of the Soudan station of 
Mongolia in 6° north latitude marks the extreme northern 
limit of the East African eland in Africa. 
