278 
UNGULATES. 
stripes are nearly obsolete; but there is one distinct longitudinal band, sometimes 
broken into spots, and the haunches are spotted, while the back has a dark line. 
In the typical variety, from West, Central, and South-Central Africa (which is the 
one represented in the illustration on p. 277), the colour is bright rufous, brilliantly 
marked all over the body with white spots and longitudinal and vertical stripes. 
In the males the line down the middle of the back is white; and the chest has a 
fringe of blackish hair. In East Africa we come across a third variety in which 
the general colour of the bucks is dark brown, with two or three obscure vertical 
stripes on the liind-quarters, and even these occasionally absent. The spots are 
variable, although less numerous than in the preceding variety. Lastly, we have 
the true bush-buck of the Cape, in which the coloration is of a uniform dark brown 
at all ages, with no trace of stripes, and the spots reduced to a few indistinct ones 
on the haunches. 
Guib, or bush-buck, are very common in most parts of Africa. Writing of this 
species, Mr. Selous says that it is “ never met with except in places where dense 
bush comes right down to the water’s edge; and on the Chobi, where I have seen 
most of these antelopes, I have never found one at a distance of more than a 
hundred yards from the river.” 
Remains of antelopes more or less nearly allied to Tragelaphus 
xtmct Species. common in the Tertiaries of Europe, as far down as the Middle 
Miocene, so that the group is evidently a very old one. 
The Nilgai. 
Genus Boselaphus. 
The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), which is the largest of the Indian 
antelopes, appears to be the oriental representative of the group of African species 
described above, although it differs from them in several important structural 
features. The males only are horned, and the horns themselves are short, smooth, 
nearly straight, and directed upwards and backwards, with a triangular section at 
the base, but becoming cylindrical at the tip. In front the horns have a distinct 
ridge, comparable to that found in those of the eland, and in very old individuals 
this ridge extends forwards and inwards, till the horns almost touch at their bases. 
The nilgai is peculiar in having the fore-limbs longer than the hinder, and the 
withers very high, in consequence of which its whole appearance is somewhat 
ungainly. The tail is tufted, and reaches the hocks ; and in both sexes the neck is 
maned, while the throat of the male has a small tuft of hair. The gland below the 
eye is very small and the muzzle naked. The upper molar teeth (one of which is 
figured on p. 155) differ from those of the foregoing species by their tall crowns, 
with a large additional column on the inner side. In general colour the adult bull 
nilgai is dark grey, with either a brownish or bluish tinge. The long hairs on the 
neck, throat, and tail, and some portions of the ear, are however black; and there 
are white markings on the face, ears, and throat, while the under surface of the 
tail, the under-parts of the body, and a ring above and below each fetlock are 
likewise white. In young males and females the colour is brown. A bull nilgai 
