17 76. January. them very improperly to augment the catalogue of the animal creation with one animal more than really exifts in it. This creature is five or fix inches in length, its fnout is ihort and without any hair upon it, notwithftanding which the upper lip is hairy. The colour, which in other refpefts is exceedingly beautiful, is: continually varying, as S c h r e b e r has remarked, page 563, between green, brown, and gold. In P e t e r B r o w n ’s Illuftrations of Zoology, page n o . Plate XLV. there is a tolerable coloured drawing of this animal; the call, hoWever, of this colour bordering upon gold, is not expreffed with a fuffi- cient degree of accuracy and beauty; neither is the leaft notice taken o f the fourth fmall or external claw. To the query which M. P a l l a s (de Murium Genere) propofes at page 154, in the notes, I anfwer, that this creature, in fail, has eyes, but they are fo fmall that they were not eaiily to be difcerned in the animal juft after it was ihot; and in the fpecimen I have preferved in fpirits, could not be feen at all till I had ftripped the ikin from off the head. * They are placed in the center of a ftrait line, conceived to be drawn from the noftrils to the ears. Again, thefe latter are in the fame horizontal line with the fauces, the apertures of them being pretty wide externally, but internally almoft imperceptible. This creature has no laps, to its ears. It will be moft fuitable in this place to enumerate and give % farther defcription of the African gazels all together, partly as I have .juft been defcribing feveral other animals, and partly as by following the order of my jour- 7 nal nal in this particular, I ihould be liable to make frequent repetitions. The hartbeefi, of which I have already made frequent mention in the courfe of this work, (viz. page 129, 13 1 , 270, 34s, Vol. I. and page 4 ,12 , x 3 ,18 ,Vol. II.) is the moft common of all the larger gazels which are to be met with at Agter Bruntjes-hoogte, or indeed in the whole colony, and in all probability in -any part ,of Africa. Thefe animals moftly keep together in herds of different magnitudes, though one does not unfrequently fee them wandering about in a folitary ftate. I have often had occafion to hunt and fhoot them, and made the drawing annexed (vide Plate I. of this Vol.) from one that I had juft ihot. Without wilhing in the leaft to depreciate the labours of others, I find myfelf neceflitated to refer my readers to this, as being the only figure hitherto publilhed, which exhibits the leaft refemblance of this animal. The greateft height of this animal, which is from the fore feet to the withers, fomewhat exceeds four feet. The horns, (which are common to both fexes,) meafured along the exterior curvature, are from fix to nine inches long, and of a black colour all over, being o f the fame nature in general as thofe of the gazel kind. The colonifts make handfome fpoons of them, though the gnu’s horns are reckoned to have the fineft grain, as well as theblackeft hue, and likewife to take the beft polifh. With refpedl to other particulars, the horns of this animal ftand upon a fmall protuberance of the cranium, with their bafes almoft quite clofe together, diverging as they go upwards continually more and more from each other, as far as to one third of their 1776. January. O'VVj
27f 72-2
To see the actual publication please follow the link above