KO B ÏÏ.'S E L L I P S I P R YI-NU S
(Mammalia. P late £0.) IVmale.
ROBUS ELLIPSIPRYMNUS.
divided into two lobes by a narrow fissure which extends nearly half way
from the lower towards the upper edge, two small lobuli on its concave surface;
gall bladder pyriform, and firmly attached to the concave surface of
the liver, and its lower extremity descends a little below the inferior edge of
the viscus.
DIMENSIONS.
Ft. Inch. Inch. Lin.
Length from the nose to the base of the tail 6 10 Length of the horns............................ 24 0
from the nose to the base of the Distance between the horns at the base 2 0
. horns ...................... ...... • ] 0 between the horns at the great-
. of the tail ................................. i 8 est curvature outwards ... 11 6
of the ears............................... 0 9 between the points of the horns 8 6
Height at the croup ................. ........... 4 3 between the hose and the eye 9 6
shoulder ............ 4 0 eye and the ear....... 4 0
(Female. Plate XXIX.)
The figure of the female is more delicate than that of the male, and the hair
with which she is covered is generally longer. Her general colour is also
paler, owing to there being less of tbe russet-brown to darken the yellowish-
grey. She has four inguinal mamma.
This animal, which has, from the time it first became known to the Cape Colonists, been
-designated by them under the name of “ The Water Bok,” was not seen by our party till after
we had passed to the northward of Kurricbane; and if we are to trust the evidence of the
natives, it is never met with to the southward o f tbe high lands, which extend to the eastward
of the locality mentioned. To the northward, however, it is a common animal, and is generally
found associated in small herds of from eight to ten individuals, near the margins o f streams.
We were struck from the first with the small proportion of males in these herds, and on remarking
upon the circumstance to the Aborigines, they gave their testimony in support of the
accuracy of our observations. Rarely, in a herd of twelve, were there more than two or three
males, and of these seldom more than one which might be regarded as mature. The natives
were of opinion that thé sexes were produced in about that proportion, and even made use of the
assumed fact in support of the propriety of polygkmy as it exists among uncivilized men, asserting
that a like disproportion occurred in the human species. A marked disproportion between
males and females I hav^also noticed in herds of other species of the Antilope tribe, both in
the colony and much nearer to i t ; but the circumstance was always accounted for in a different
way by persons with whom 1 conversed on the subject. It was affirmed that the great
superiority in number óf the one, arose from the adult males driving out the young ones from
the society of the herds, and forcing them to live apart until they had acquired the strength
necessary to enable them to hold their place in a mixed society, which was not probably before
some, proportion of the elder had ceased to exist, and left room for the few able-bodied to
join company and become active agents in extending to others that line of discipline to which
they themselves had been subjected. It is possible this may be the correct mode of ac