+ — — . F See = ——— — — Ss 
PLATE VIII. 
ACRONOTUS LUNATA.—THE SASSAYBE OR BASTARD HARTEBEEST. 
Bastard Hartebeest of the Cape Colonists. Sassaybe of the Bechuana and Matabili. 
Generic CHARACTER.—Adult male four feet six inches high at the shoulder; four feet at the croup. Eight feet two 
or three inches in extreme length. Horns robust, about twelve inches long, turning outwards and then sweeping inwards with 
a regular curve, so as to form two segments of a circle, with a general inclination backwards —the whole when seen from the 
front, forming a complete crescent. They are marked with from twelve to fifteen incomplete anuuli, occupying about half their 
length ; the rest smooth. Neck short. Body rather bulky. Legs slender. Hoofs black and tapering. Withers very elevated. 
Back remarkably sloping, and crupper very drooping. Head long, narrow and shapeless; wearing a bubaline appearance. Facial 
line strait. A dark soot-colored streak extending in a lozenge shape from between the horns to the nose, widest below the 
eyes. Ears fawn color, nine inches long. Hair of the body close, silky, and glossy. General color, deep blackish purple brown 
above, forming a pompadour as it descends; beneath fulvous and tawny. A dab of slate color extends from the middle of the 
shoulder to the knee; and another from the middle of the flank to the hock, outside. An abrupt transverse band of the 
same color passes diagonally across the inside both of fore and hind legs, upon a fulvous ground. Lower part of the legs 
deep fulvous. Tail twenty-two inches long, descending to the hocks, rufous, and covered below with posteriorly directed wavy 
black hair. Rump fawn color. Eyes high in the cranium, and fiery red. A semi-muzzle separating the nostrils, and a very 
indistinct lachrymary perforation. 
Female precisely similar, but smaller and less robust, with more slender horns. Mammz two. Gregarious. Inhabits the 
country of the Bechuana, and as far as the Tropic, in considerable herds — generally associating with the Hartebeest. 
