| inches. | inches. | |
| “Length along front curves | 34½ | 33½ |
| Do. in straight line | 27 | 27 |
| Circumference at base | 6½ | 6½ |
| Tip to tip | 17½ | 17 |
“I also send a photograph of the head of a female Addax, almost adult (see fig. 97, p. 85).
“Since writing the foregoing I have received from South Tunis the complete skin and head of a fine male Addax obtained in the early part of this year (1898). The horns of this specimen are remarkably long, being in fact quite a record pair, and measure as much as 38½ inches along the front curves, and 30½ inches in a straight line. I have presented this specimen to the National Museum at South Kensington.”
The Addax has likewise been the object of an expedition into the Sahara made by Mr. A. E. Pease, M.P., F.Z.S., who, in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1896, has given us the following account of his adventures in search of it:—
“In February 1895, furnished with all the information I could obtain from M. Foureau and natives familiar with the Erg, Sir Edmund Loder and I started from Biskra to reach the country between El Oued Souf and Rhadamis. After a week’s journey across the desert by way of the great Chotts we reached the Oued Souf. At El Oued, the last outpost of the French in the direction of Rhadamis, we were stopped till Capitaine de Prandière had obtained instructions from the General of Division permitting us to go on. After a detention, made pleasant by the great kindness and hospitality of the three French officers in command of the native garrison, we had the disappointment of being told that we could not be allowed to proceed southwards. At the time we thought this very hard, for though we were aware that the Touaregs had lately raided the Chambas as near as Mey, we felt that a flying visit to the country east of Bir Beresof would be without danger, as we could be in and out again before our presence was discovered. But a few months later M. Foureau and a strong force were driven back from the south, though he had reached a point far beyond our proposed destination, and I think our hosts were entirely justified in their refusal. Our plan had been to reach Bir Beresof, and then to strike east for Bir Aoueen, where we should in all probability have come up with the Addax, which visits this district in large quantities in favourable years. The Addax country is the Erg, the great region of sand-dunes, covered more or less thickly with vegetation according to situation and rains. This sand-dune country covers hundreds—it may be said thousands—of miles and the Addax follows the rains. In certain districts it is not uncommon for rain not to fall for several years in succession. In one year the Addax are only found far south of Rhadamis and Aïn Taïba (S. of Ouargla), in other years they follow the rain as far north as the southern borders of the Chott Djereed in the east and the neighbourhood of Aïn Taïba in the west. Without the help of the French and a good escort of Chambas it would be vain to attempt to reach the Rhadamis country by way of Bir Beresof; and the wells being sometimes nine days apart, it is a difficult route to follow.
“I heard when at Touzer that a M. Cornex had obtained a ‘Begra el Ouash’ within a few days of Douz; possibly this was the Bubal, though I was assured that he had got the Addax. M. Cornex (a Swiss) had adopted the religion and dress of the Arabs, and had therefore facilities of reaching places and avoiding dangers that were quite exceptional.
“In 1894 the Touaregs raided as far north as the southern shores—if they can be called shores—of the Chott Djereed. In 1895 we crossed the western end of this Chott, and, so far as we could judge or learn, the Chott was without water in any part; it had been an exceptionally dry year, and the country between the mountains and the Djereed we found absolutely devoid of inhabitants.
“At El Oued there was in the fort a tame Addax familiarly called ‘Begra,’ and this was the only living specimen we saw during our journey. It was not a very good example, but had rather a fine pair of horns. It had been presented by some Chambas to the Commandant.”
From Morocco we have no intelligence of the Addax, although it will be doubtless found there in the desert south of the Atlas. From Senegal, likewise, we have little certain to record except the receipt of living animals of this species on more than one occasion, especially a fine pair now in the Zoological Garden at Antwerp, where Sclater has lately examined them. We do not usually quote Rochebrune’s ‘Faune de la Sénégambie,’ as it is hardly a reliable authority, but we find that he says that the Addax is “common” in Cayor and Oualo on the right bank of the River Senegal, and this river is probably its southern limit on this side of Africa.
The Addax is occasionally, but not very frequently, brought to Europe alive. In the twelfth volume of the ‘Nova Acta’ of the Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy (1824) will be found a figure and description by Dr. A. W. Otto of this Antelope, taken from a fresh specimen that had died in a menagerie. Otto described it as belonging to a new species, “Antilope suturosa,” but it was manifestly only an Addax in its darker winter coat.