ANTELOPES. 
299 
gazelle. When we pass back to the Pleistocene period, the saiga had a much more 
extensive range to the westward, its fossilised remains having been obtained from 
the caverns and superficial deposits of Hungary, Belgium, and the south of France. 
Moreover, from the frontlet of a male having been discovered in the gravels of 
Twickenham, it is evident that the animal occasionally wandered as far as Britain. 
In Moravia there have been found the remains of a saiga differing from the living 
species by having six, in place of five, lower cheek-teeth. From the occurrence of 
saiga remains, together with those of other mammals now characteristic of the 
steppes, in Western Europe, it has been inferred that steppe-like conditions and 
climate must formerly have prevailed over portions of that area. 
Palas. 
Genus AEpyceros. 
The South African antelope, known by the name of pala or impala (AEpyceros 
melampus ), is a rather large animal, standing a little over 3 feet in height, and 
of a dark-red colour above, gradually shading into white below. There is no gland 
on the face below the eye ; and the feet are distinguished 
by the total absence of the lateral hoofs. The horns of 
the males are lyrate, widely divergent, and somewhat 
spiral, with about a dozen complete and widely-separated 
rings. The ordinary length of pala horns does not 
exceed 16 inches; but Mr. Selous records specimens of 
20 and 21 inches, measured in a straight line. The pala 
is found throughout Southern and South-Eastern Africa. 
Mr. Selous states that these antelopes are nowhere more 
plentiful than along the Chobi, and may often be seen 
in herds of from twenty to one hundred together. “ There 
are very few males in comparison with the number of 
females, though I have sometimes seen a herd composed 
entirely of rams, ten or fifteen in number. They are HEAD 0F PALA.-After Selous, 
like thick corn along the river’s bank, and are seldom 
seen at a distance of more than a mile from water; and there is no more certain 
sign of the proximity of water than the presence of impala antelopes.” In 
Nyasaland, Mr. Crawshay states that they frequent sandy plains covered with 
mimosas and low scrub near the rivers. The same writer observes that “ no 
antelope I have seen can compare with the impala in fleetness of foot, and cer¬ 
tainly no other can display such wonderful leaping power; they go off like the 
proverbial arrow from the bow, and, with most beautiful gliding bounds, cover 
the ground, without apparently the least effort. When alarmed they often give 
utterance to a sharp bark.” From its red colour, the pala is known to the Dutch 
Boers as the roybok. 
Gordon Cumming relates that on one occasion near his camp “ a loud rushing 
noise was heard coming on like a hurricane; this was a large troop of pala pursued 
by a pack of about twenty wild dogs. They passed our camp in fine style within 
