counting for the occurrence, but I must confess I have never had the good fortune to find herds
of young males living by themselves; though I have been assured by credible persons, that
such had often come under their observation.
When Kobus ettipsiprymms is feeding, it has the appearance of being a clumsy and unprepossessing
animal; but, on the contrary, when excited, it is elegant and stately; at such
times it holds its head high, and assumes a lively and spirited position. Its pace is a gallop, and
generally all the individuals of the herd brush off at the same time, each making the best of
its way without endeavouring, as some other o f the Antilopes do, to follow in the train of
a leader. When disturbed they generally fly from the places where they are discovered
towards the higher grounds of the neighbourhood, and if unable to reach them, without passing
through water, they manifest neither fear nor disinclination to plunge into the stream—hence
the origin of the name by which they are designated by the colonist. Their flesh is in little
repute, even with the Aborigines, though it is not quite rejected; the dislike to it arises from
its being of a hard and stringy texture, and from exhaling a strong urinous odour. The
flesh of Aigoceros equina is also rather hard, strong, and somewhat unsavoury, its skin like that
of Kobus ellipsiprymnus is thick, very compact and firmly attached to the muscles, and there
are also various other points in which the two animals strongly resemble each other.
In consequence of having found, that I could not, upon satisfactory grounds, class Aigoceros
ellipsiprymnus in any o f the .yet constituted groupes into which the Autilope family has been
divided, I came at last to the resolution of establishing one to receive it. The value of the
groupe, however, I have not ventured to surmise, being of opinion that in the present state of
the science the naturalist is often hampered by difficulties created merely from an inclination to
accomplish more than is to be done consistent with the knowledge we yet possess. In the
groupe which I propose for the South African animal I feel inclined also to place two Antilopes
of Western Africa, the Koba and Kob of Buffon. These, in consequence of the peculiarities
o f their characters, have been variously classed by different authors, and it clearly appears to
me, that if our animal is not to be admitted into any of the already established forms, certainly
the two above mentioned must be equally excluded, while they must be viewed as standing
within the limits of the groupe we propose. The following, in our opinion, will be'the species
which will belong to i t :—
Kobus ellipsiprymnus, Aigoceros ellipsiprymnus. Ogilby.
Kobus senegalensis, Antilope senegalensis. D esm.
Kobus'Adansoni, Antilope, Kob. E rxleb.