Chapter 14

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XX.Smit del. et lith.Hanhart imp.The Banded Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS DORIÆ.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XX.

Smit del. et lith.

Hanhart imp.

The Banded Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS DORIÆ.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Antilope(?),Benn.P. Z. S. 1832, p. 122.Antilope doria,Ogilb.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121;Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 444 (1844);Fraser, Zool. Typ. pl. xviii. (animal) (1849).Antilope zebrata[14],“Robert, Echo du Monde Savant, 1836”;Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 267 (1840);id.Hist. Nat. Mamm. ii. p. 202 (1855).Antilope zebra,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. i. p. 27 (1838);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842).Cephalophorus zebra,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).Damalis (?) zebra,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 22 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 142;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 129 (1852);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872).Cephalophus doria,Jent.N. L. M. vii. p. 270, pl. ix. (skull, ♀) (1885) (Liberia);id.op. cit. x. p. 21, pls. ii. (animal), iii. (skull, ♂) (1887);id.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377, pl. xxix. (animal) (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 164 (1892).Cephalophus doriæ,Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 424;Ward, Horn Meas. p. 77 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).

Antilope(?),Benn.P. Z. S. 1832, p. 122.

Antilope doria,Ogilb.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121;Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 444 (1844);Fraser, Zool. Typ. pl. xviii. (animal) (1849).

Antilope zebrata[14],“Robert, Echo du Monde Savant, 1836”;Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 267 (1840);id.Hist. Nat. Mamm. ii. p. 202 (1855).

Antilope zebra,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. i. p. 27 (1838);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176 (1842).

Cephalophorus zebra,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).

Damalis (?) zebra,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 22 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 142;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 129 (1852);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 45 (1872).

Cephalophus doria,Jent.N. L. M. vii. p. 270, pl. ix. (skull, ♀) (1885) (Liberia);id.op. cit. x. p. 21, pls. ii. (animal), iii. (skull, ♂) (1887);id.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 377, pl. xxix. (animal) (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 164 (1892).

Cephalophus doriæ,Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 424;Ward, Horn Meas. p. 77 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 211 (1893).

Vernacular Name:—Mountain-deerof Liberians (Büttikofer).

Size small. General colour pale rufous, broadly banded with black. Face, ears, neck, and shoulders rufous or chestnut, except the nasal region, whichis blackish. Back from withers to rump pale rufous, conspicuously banded transversely with deep shining black. Under surface from chin to anus pale rufous, slightly paler than the ground-colour between the bands. Limbs rufous, but with broad black patches on the outer surfaces of the forearms and lower legs, and with the phalanges black all round. Heels with large glandular tufts of black hair on their postero-inferior surfaces. Tail rufous, more or less mixed with black above, white below.

Horns short, in the same line as the nasal profile, in the male barely two inches long, conical, tapering, sharply pointed, their greatest basal diameter going about 2½ times in their length; in the female less than one inch in an adult, smoother than in the male, but otherwise similar in character.

Skull stoutly built. Nasal region broad, flat, parallel-sided. Anteorbital fossæ very shallow. Frontal region not specially swollen. Horn-cores so pressed downwards and backwards as to cause marked depressions behind and below them on the parietals. Palate with its three posterior notches about level.

Dimensions:—♂. Height at withers 16 inches, ear 2·9, hind foot 6·8 (in a female, rather older, 7·3).

Skull: basal length 5·8 inches, greatest breadth 2·8, orbit to muzzle 3·4.

Hab.Interior of West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to Sierra Leone.

The flat skins of this Antelope, so remarkable for their transverse black bands, first attracted the attention of naturalists in 1832, when they were brought before the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London by Mr. E. T. Bennett, then Secretary of the Society. Mr. Bennett considered them as belonging “not improbably” to some species of Antelope, to which, however, he did not venture to give a name. They were supposed by Gould (then the Zoological Society’s taxidermist), who had obtained them, to have been received from Algoa Bay; but there is no doubt that this was an error, and that these flat skins, some of which are even now occasionally brought to this country, are from Sierra Leone and the adjoining districts of Western Africa.

For some years this subject appears to have slept, but was revived in 1836 by Mr. Ogilby, who, in the course of some remarks upon the preserved specimens of Antelopes in the Zoological Society’s Museum, took the opportunity of assuring his hearers that the skins described by Mr. Bennett belongedto a “real Antelope” and that he hoped shortly to “have an opportunity of describing it in detail under the name ofAntelope doria.”

Some two years later the late Dr. Gray proposed the name “Antilope zebra” for the same animal, based upon a skin received by the British Museum from Sierra Leone. Gray recognized it as being evidently the same as that previously described by Bennett, and gave no reason for proposing to alter its name.

About the same time similar imperfect flat skins attracted the attention of M. Robert, of Paris, who shortly described them in a communication to the ‘Echo du Monde Savant’ of 1836 under the nameAntilope zebrata. But there is no doubt, we think, that “doria” was the first published specific appellation of this Antelope, and ought to be adopted. “Doria” is stated by Gray (Cat. Ung. p. 129) to have been the Christian name of Mr. Ogilby’s wife.

In his ‘List of Specimens of Mammals in the British Museum,’ published in 1843, Gray assigned this species to the genusCephalophorus, i.e.Cephalophus. In his subsequent Catalogues he transferred it to the genusDamalis(i.e.Damaliscus),“on account of the dark mark on the outside of the limb.”

From the flat skins in the British Museum and the Zoological Society’s collection, Fraser, in 1849, gave a partly imaginative figure of this Antelope in his ‘Zoologia Typica.’

It was more than 50 years after the imperfect description of this problematical Antelope from the flat skins before science obtained correct information as to its proper characters and position in the system.

During the celebrated expedition of the naturalists of the Leyden Museum to Liberia in 1879 and following years Mr. Büttikofer first obtained perfect specimens of this Duiker on the St. Paul’s River. These were described by Dr. Jentink in the seventh volume of the ‘Notes from the Leyden Museum’ in 1885, and a figure was given of the skull. In the succeeding volume of the ‘Notes’ Dr. Jentink gave fuller particulars respecting this welcome rediscovery, and informed us that, as shown by the series of specimens collected by Mr. Büttikofer and his fellow travellers, this Antelope is not uncommon in certain parts of Liberia. The “Mountain-deer,” as the Americanized Liberians call it, does not occur in the coast-district, but is found in the mountainous terrain of the interior. Dr. Jentink gave coloured illustrations of the male, female, and young of this Antelope, together withrepresentations of the skull of the adult male, the skull figured in the previous volume having been that of a female.

In the second volume of his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia,’ published in 1890, Mr. Büttikofer tells us that he first saw a living example of this species in the forest near Soforeh Place, and recognized it, with much delight, as the “Mountain-deer” of which he had heard so much spoken. Here he captured a young one alive, and subsequently found the skull of the mother, which was wounded but not obtained on that occasion. In his second expedition to Liberia, Mr. Büttikofer and his companions procured a full series of examples of this beautiful species. Mr. Büttikofer remarks that the weight of a full-grown example of this animal ranges from 40 to 50 lbs., and that a specially remarkable development in its structure is that of the hairs on the hind edge of the tarsus, which form a sort of brush.

Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XX.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit from a stuffed specimen of an adult male in the British Museum obtained on the Du Queah River in Liberia during Mr. Büttikofer’s second expedition. In the same collection there is a skin of an adult female from the same locality, and the skeletons of both these animals. The flat skins which were the types of the specific terms “doria” of Ogilby and “zebra” of Gray are likewise in the National Collection.

August, 1895.

Cephalophus niger,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 165 (1846);id.List Ost. B.M. p. 57 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 10, pl. vii. (animal) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 123;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 84 (1852);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 236 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 27 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. p. 96 (1873);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 132 (1887);id.N. L. M. x. p. 20 (1887) (Liberia);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 376 (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 162 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 425;Matach.Mittheil. deutsch. Schutzgebiet, vi. p. 81 (1893);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893).Antilope pluto,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194,214 (1853);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 422 (1855).

Antilope pluto,Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194,214 (1853);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 422 (1855).

Vernacular Name:—Bush-Goatof Liberian Negroes (Büttikofer).

Size medium. Colour of body uniform dark smoky brown or black, becoming darker on the rump and limbs; paler on the throat and chest. Face fulvous, darkening into rich rufous on the crest; the centre of the forehead sometimes brown or black. Ears black haired externally, rufous internally. Tail black above, but with a whitish terminal tuft.

Skull long and narrow. Forehead swollen; anteorbital fossæ rather shallow; mesial notch of palate about ¼ inch in advance of lateral ones.

Horns, in male, “straight, rough at their base, smooth and pointed at their extremity, 3–3½ inches in length” (Temminck,l.c.): in female short, barely an inch in length, blunt and rounded, not expanded basally.

Dimensions:—(♂). Approximate height at withers 18 inches, length of hind foot 8·3, of ear 2·8.

Skull (♀): basal length (c.) 6·8, greatest breadth 3·3, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle 4·2.

Hab.West Coast of Africa, from Liberia to the Gold Coast.

The well-known field-naturalist Pel, one of the many excellent collectors employed from time to time by the Leyden Museum, was the discoverer of this Duiker, of which he transmitted specimens home from the Guinea coast about the year 1843. Shortly afterwards the British Museum acquired one of Pel’s specimens from Leyden under the MS. name “Antilope niger.” This was described by Gray in 1846 as the type of a new species, “The Black Bush-buck (Cephalophus niger).” Gray added to his description that there was then living in the Knowsley Menagerie a “Bush-buck” which was probably of the same species; and on turning to the pictures in the ‘Gleanings from the Derby Menagerie’ we find what is doubtless the animal referred to, figured upon a plate (vii. fig. 2) which is initialed by Waterhouse Hawkins as having been drawn in 1846. So far as we know, this is the only individual of this Antelope that has ever been brought to Europe alive.

Although Gray had taken the name which he received with this animal from the Leyden Museum and had employed it throughout in his catalogues, Temminck, the then Director of that great establishment, when he published his ‘Esquisses Zoologiques sur la Côte de Guiné’ in 1855, was not content to adopt it. He considered it “too vague,” as having been already applied to other species of Antelopes, and proposed to change it toCephalophus pluto. Temminck informs us that this species is widely distributed on the coast of Guinea and is very common in the forests near the Dutch factories in that district, particularly in Ashantee, near Chama and Dabacrom.

In the adjoining republic of Liberia, to the west of the Gold Coast, Mr. Büttikofer and his colleagues Sala and Stampfli obtained many specimens of this Duiker during their expeditions of 1879 and 1886. Dr. Jentink, in cataloguing their results, gives various localities in which it was met with—viz. at St. Paul’s River, Schieffelinsville, Junk River, Du Queah River, and Farmington River. The Liberian naturalists remark that the flesh of this Antelope has a remarkably strong bitter flavour, which they neverobserved in any other species of the group. This peculiarity is probably caused by some special food to which it is addicted.

In his ‘Reisebilder aus Liberia’ Mr. Büttikofer informs us that the Black Duiker, known to the Liberians under the name of the Bush-Goat, is one of the commonest species of the group in that republic. Like all other members of the genus, it is exclusively an inhabitant of the high forests and bushy woods, coming out at night into the savannahs and plantations to get its food. Mr. Büttikofer repeats his statements as regards the unsavoury character of its flesh, and states that even the natives, who are by no means particular, in many cases refuse to eat it.

Besides the immature female obtained by Pel, which forms the type ofCephalophus niger, the National Collection possesses skins of an adult female from Fantee and of a young individual from the Ankober River in Ashantee, both obtained by the native collector Aubinn.

Our coloured figure of the Black Duiker (Plate XIV. fig. 1) was prepared by Mr. Smit under the direction of the late Sir Victor Brooke. It was probably taken from the mounted specimen in the British Museum, but of this we have no certain record.

August, 1895.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXI.Wolf del. Smit lith.Hanhart imp.Fig 1. The Blue Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS MONTICOLA.Fig 2. Maxwell’s Duiker.CEPHALOPHUS MAXWELLI.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XXI.

Wolf del. Smit lith.

Hanhart imp.

Fig 1. The Blue Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS MONTICOLA.

Fig 2. Maxwell’s Duiker.

CEPHALOPHUS MAXWELLI.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Guévei(Ant. pygmæa),F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. lxi. (animal, ♀) (1826) (Senegal).Antilope (Cephalophus) maxwelli,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 267, v. p. 347 (1827);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff., x.) p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Gieb.Zeitschr. ges. Nat. xxxv. p. 43 (1870).Antilope (Cephalophus) philantomba,H. Sm.Griff. Cuv. An. K. v. p. 349 (1827);Og.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121;Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff. x.) p. 295 (1836);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).Cephalophus maxwelli,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 216 (1834);Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 146 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. xi.A(animal) (1850);id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 86 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 223 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862);Scl.P. Z. S. 1868, p. 625;Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 595 (anat. ♀);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600, fig. 8 (skull);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873);Garrod, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anat.);Scl.List An. Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 269 (1884);Jent.N. L. M. x. p. 21 (1887) (Liberia);id.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 379 (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 163 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 425;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893);Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893);id.SB. Ges. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 256 (1894) (distribution).Cephalophus philantomba,A. Sm.S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 217 (1834).Antilope frederici,Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 454 (1844);Gieb.Säug. p. 321 (1859).Cephalophus punctulatus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 167 (1846);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 11 (but not pl. viii. fig. 1, which isC. sylvicultrix) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 88 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).Sylvicapra philantombaetS.frederici,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).Cephalophus whitfieldi,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. xi. fig 2 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125;id.Cat. Ung. B.M. p. 88 (1852);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599;id.Cat. Rum. B.M. p. 28 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873).Antilope (Cephalolophus) maxwelli,punctulatus, etwhitfieldi,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. pp. 427–429 (1855).Cephalophus fredcrici,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).

Guévei(Ant. pygmæa),F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. lxi. (animal, ♀) (1826) (Senegal).

Antilope (Cephalophus) maxwelli,H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 267, v. p. 347 (1827);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff., x.) p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Gieb.Zeitschr. ges. Nat. xxxv. p. 43 (1870).

Antilope (Cephalophus) philantomba,H. Sm.Griff. Cuv. An. K. v. p. 349 (1827);Og.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 121;Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff. x.) p. 295 (1836);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).

Cephalophus maxwelli,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 216 (1834);Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 166 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 146 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. xi.A(animal) (1850);id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 86 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 223 (1853);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862);Scl.P. Z. S. 1868, p. 625;Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 595 (anat. ♀);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600, fig. 8 (skull);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873);Garrod, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anat.);Scl.List An. Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 269 (1884);Jent.N. L. M. x. p. 21 (1887) (Liberia);id.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 379 (1890);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 163 (1892);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 425;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893);Matsch.MT. deutsch. Schutz-geb. vi. p. 81 (1893);id.SB. Ges. nat. Freund. 1893, p. 256 (1894) (distribution).

Cephalophus philantomba,A. Sm.S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 217 (1834).

Antilope frederici,Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. iv. p. 454 (1844);Gieb.Säug. p. 321 (1859).

Cephalophus punctulatus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 167 (1846);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 11 (but not pl. viii. fig. 1, which isC. sylvicultrix) (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 88 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).

Sylvicapra philantombaetS.frederici,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).

Cephalophus whitfieldi,Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. xi. fig 2 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125;id.Cat. Ung. B.M. p. 88 (1852);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599;id.Cat. Rum. B.M. p. 28 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873).

Antilope (Cephalolophus) maxwelli,punctulatus, etwhitfieldi,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. pp. 427–429 (1855).

Cephalophus fredcrici,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).

Vernacular Name:—Fulintongueof Liberians (Büttikofer).

Size considerably smaller than in the previous species. Colour uniform slaty brown, becoming paler below and on the inner sides of the limbs. Superciliary streaks whitish. Ears small, rounded, behind dark brown. Rump and backs of the hams uniform with body, except that just at the base of the tail on each side, and on the top of the proximal half of the tail itself, the colour is rather darker. Rest of tail above brown, beneath whitish; limbs externally like body.

Horns set up at a slight angle above the nasal profile, but not nearly so much as inC. grimmi: those of male short (about 2 inches long), thick at base; their greatest basal diameter going about 2½ times in their length; of female, according to Temminck, exceedingly small, and indeed they are entirely absent in the only specimen available to us, but this is not fully adult.

Skull broad and strong. Muzzle rather narrow. Anteorbital fossæ rather shallow. Mesial notch of palate only about ⅙ inch in advance of the lateral ones.

Dimensions:—♀. Height at withers 14 inches, ear 2, hind foot 6·7.

Skull (♂): basal length 4·7 inches, greatest breadth 2·5, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle 2·7.

This species shows a certain tendency to the peculiar coloration of therump characteristic ofC. melanorheus; the colour-contrasts of black and white of the latter, however, are in this case only dark brown and light brown respectively.

Hab.Coast of West Africa from Gambia to the Gold Coast.

This Duiker, which is of considerably smaller dimensions than the two previous species, and of a nearly uniform slaty-brown colour, is likewise a West-African species, but seems to have a rather more extended range along the coast. Whether it is really the Guévei of A damson and Buffon is, to say the least of it, very doubtful, but it is probably the species figured under that name by F. Cuvier in 1826 from a specimen from Senegal then living in the Jardin des Plantes. Cuvier referred this specimen to theAntilope pygmæaof former authors, but, as we know from Sir Victor Brooke’s excellent article on this subject (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 637), that specific name properly belongs to the Royal Antelope of Western Africa, of which we shall give an account in a subsequent part of this work.

In 1827, in his volume on the order Ruminantia in ‘Griffith’s Animal Kingdom,’ Major Hamilton Smith described a female of this species which had been brought home from Sierra Leone by Col. Charles Maxwell and dedicated it to that gentleman asAntilope maxwelli. In a subsequent volume of the same work, containing a synopsis of the species of mammals, Hamilton Smith not only repeated the description, but added, as apparently different, a description of another young specimen from the same country, and classed it as a different species under the nameAntilope philantomba. Under this last designation also this Antelope is mentioned by Ogilby in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1836, where he gives some particulars respecting two females which had lived for some time in the Society’s Gardens.

At about this date also there were several examples of the “Philantomba” as it is commonly called in Zoological Gardens, living in the Derby Menagerie at Knowsley. In Waterhouse Hawkins’s drawings of the animals in this splendid collection, which were subsequently edited by Gray, Maxwell’s Duiker appears to have been mentioned under three different names—first asC. maxwelli(plate xi.a), secondly asC. punctulatus(p. 11), and thirdly asC. whitfieldi(plate xi. fig. 2). So far as we can tell all these names must refer to the present species, which seems to vary considerably between youth and age.

Many living specimens of this Duiker have also been received by the Zoological Society of London, besides those mentioned by Mr. Ogilby. Although in nature shy and retiring it does well in captivity, and becomes very tame when petted. It has frequently bred in the Society’s Menagerie, and specimens are registered as having been born there in 1867, 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874. It is also well known in several of the Zoological Gardens on the Continent. Of late years there have been many examples of this little Antelope in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, and there are at present two males in that Collection.

Fig. 20.Skull ofCephalophus maxwelli.(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600.)

Fig. 20.

Skull ofCephalophus maxwelli.

(P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600.)

It has been stated by some authors that the female of this species is hornless, but of those in the Zoological Society’s Collection it is certain that both males and females have carried horns, though these appendages are usually rather smaller in the latter sex. As regards the specimens in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, Mr. F. E. Blaauw likewise assures us that all the females have had horns, sometimes larger and sometimes smaller. We therefore regard the absence of horns in adult females of this species as an exceptional occurrence.

Maxwell’s Duiker appears to extend from Senegal and Gambia all along the West Coast of Africa to the mouths of the Niger. From Senegal, as already mentioned, it has been received in Paris, and from the Gambia living specimens were brought by Whitfield for the Derby Menagerie. From SierraLeone there is a specimen in the British Museum presented by Colonel Sabine, R.E., which is the type ofCephalophus punctulatus. In Liberia, Mr. Büttikofer tells us, Maxwell’s Duiker is unquestionably the commonest species. It is known to the Liberians under the name of “Fulintongue,” of which no doubt “Philantomba” is a corruption. Mr. Büttikofer tells us that it lives in small troops in the bush, but is very shy and difficult for the hunter to approach, so that it is generally captured in snares. Proceeding farther westwards we find that specimens of this Antelope have been transmitted to the Leyden Museum from Dabacrom, on the Gold Coast, by Pel, and to the British Museum from Fantee by the native collector Aubinn. As we are kindly informed by Herr Matschie, there are examples of this species in the Berlin Museum collected in Togo-land by Herr Baumann.

Our figure of this Antelope (Plate XXI. fig. 2) was prepared by Mr. Smit many years ago under the directions of Sir Victor Brooke. It was probably taken from one of the specimens in the British Museum, but we have unfortunately no certain knowledge on this subject

August, 1895.

Subspeciesa.C. melanorheus typicus.

Cephalophus melanorheus,Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 167 (1846);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 11, pl. x. (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 125;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 88 (1852);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. pp. 194, 236 (1853);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873);Peters, Monatsb. Ac. Berl. 1876, p. 482 (Gaboon);Matsch.Arch. f. Nat. 1891, pt. 1, pp. 353, 354;Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 426;Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 212 (1893).Antilope (Cephalolophus) melanorheus,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 428 (1855).Cephalophus anchietæ,Bocage, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Angola).Cephalophus maxwelli,Noack, Zool. JB., Syst. iv. p. 121 (1889) (Banana, Congo) (necH. Sm.).

Antilope (Cephalolophus) melanorheus,Wagn.Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. p. 428 (1855).

Cephalophus anchietæ,Bocage, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Angola).

Cephalophus maxwelli,Noack, Zool. JB., Syst. iv. p. 121 (1889) (Banana, Congo) (necH. Sm.).

Subspeciesb.C. melanorheus sundevalli.

Sylvicapra pygmæa, var.,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1845, p. 321 (1847);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 313; Reprint, p. 133 (1848).Cephalophus pygmæus sundevalli,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869) (exSund.).

Sylvicapra pygmæa, var.,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1845, p. 321 (1847);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 313; Reprint, p. 133 (1848).

Cephalophus pygmæus sundevalli,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869) (exSund.).

Vernacular Name:—“Nshiri” at Dongila, Gaboon (Buchholz).

Similar in all respects toC. maxwelli, except that it is rather smaller, and that the brown colour of the back darkens to black on and at each side of the base of the tail, below which there is an abrupt change to white on the backs of the hams. Female with horns.

Horns short, but almost as long in the female as in the male, placed in the same straight line as the nasal profile, slightly incurved: those of male about 1½ inch long, their basal diameter going about 2½ times in the length; thoseof female about 1¼ inch long, basal diameter going about 3 times in the length.

Dimensions:—Height much as inC. monticola, length of ear 1·6 inch, hind foot 6·1.

Skull (♂): basal length (c.) 4·6 inches, greatest breadth 2·4, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle 2·5.

Hab.Africa south and east of the Niger, extending from the Cameroons to Angola and eastwards to the coast opposite Zanzibar.

To the east and south of the Niger Delta, Maxwell’s Duiker appears to be represented by the present species, which, as we have explained above, is of the same size and closely resembles it in most particulars.

The Black-rumped Duiker was first described by Gray in an article on new species of this group, published in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for 1846, from specimens in the British Museum, transmitted from Fernando Po by James Thompson, one of Lord Derby’s collectors. Shortly afterwards it was figured in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie ’ by Waterhouse Hawkins from living specimens brought home by the same traveller.

We will now endeavour to give some idea of the range of this still imperfectly-known species. Beginning on the north, we find skins of it in the British Museum obtained in the wooded district of Cameroons and transmitted to the British Museum by the late Captain Burton and by Crossley, besides the typical specimens received from Fernando Po, which were probably originally obtained from the adjoining mainland. Herr Matschie, in an article on the Mammals of the Cameroons, published in 1891, likewise records the occurrence of this species in the Wuté district of that country, as testified by a skull sent to Berlin by Lieut. Morgen. From Gaboon there is a skin of an adult male in the British Museum, obtained by Mr. DuChaillu, and a specimen in the Berlin Museum procured by Buchholtz. To the south of the Congo this Duiker has been obtained at Capangombé in Angola by the well-known Portuguese collector Anchieta. M. de Bocage in 1878 based a new species on these specimens and proposed to dedicate it to M. d’Anchieta, having been misled by the indifferent figure and imperfect description ofC. melanorheusgiven in the ‘Knowsley Menagerie.’ But there appears to be no reasonable doubt that they may be properly referred toC. melanorheus.

How far the Black-rumped Duiker extends over the forests of the Congobasin is, as yet, quite uncertain. The authorities of the Congo Free State have, up to the present time, persistently neglected to obtain any accurate information of the zoology of the great region which they have occupied. The little we know of the animals of this wide area is based upon fragmentary specimens obtained by passing explorers. It is very probable, however, thatC. melanorheusmay range over nearly the whole of the great woody basin of the Congo and its tributaries. But when we come to the eastern slope of Africa, from various parts of which specimens referred to this species have been received, we meet, as Sundevall has pointed out, with a slightly different form, which for the present it is proposed to regard as a subspecies (following Fitzinger) asCephalophus melanorheus sundevalli.

The fact is that, as regards these small Duikers, a far better series from the various points of their range must be rendered accessible before we can come to any accurate determination as to their systematic arrangement and distribution. Herr Matschie informs us that some specimens received in Berlin from Dar-es-Salaam, in German East Africa, rather more resembleC. monticolathanC. melanorheus; so here is another riddle yet unsolved.

August, 1895.

Antilope grimmia,Schweinf.Herz. v. Afrika, i. p. 267 (fig. of head), ii. p. 535 (1874).Cephalolophus æquatorialis,Matsch.SB. Ges. nat. Freund. 1892, p. 112 (Chagwè);Scott-Elliot, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 341.Cephalophus æquinoctialis,Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893).

Antilope grimmia,Schweinf.Herz. v. Afrika, i. p. 267 (fig. of head), ii. p. 535 (1874).

Cephalolophus æquatorialis,Matsch.SB. Ges. nat. Freund. 1892, p. 112 (Chagwè);Scott-Elliot, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 341.

Cephalophus æquinoctialis,Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 209 (1893).

Vernacular Name:—“Mtelaganya” in Uganda (O. Neumann).

Similar toC. melanorheusin almost all respects, but the under surface only little lighter than the upper, and the female, at least in all the three specimens known, entirely without horns.

Dimensions (from Matschie):—“Height at shoulder 10–12 inches, height on rump 12–13.”

Skull (♀): basal length 4·14 inches, greatest breadth 2·16, muzzle to orbit 2·34.

Horns of a male 1¼ inch long, half an inch thick at the base (Matschie).

Hab.Uganda.

The representative of the Black-rumped Duiker in Uganda has recently been separated by Herr Matschie fromC. melanorheusunder the name ofC. æguatorialison account of its darker belly, which is stated to be of a bright isabella-brown colour, “nearly of the tint which Mr. Ridgway, in his ‘Nomenclature of Colours’ (tab. iii. no. 21), calls écru drab, and scarcely lighter in colour than the back.” The species was based upon five specimens obtained by Stuhlmann in Chagwè, Uganda, in the month of December. Dr. Stuhlmann’s note is that this Antelope lives in the forests of Uganda, and that its skins are brought in numbers to the market at Mengo. A living example of this species, we are informed by Herr Matschie, was in 1892 in the Zoological Garden of Berlin.

On examining two skins of adult females of what we suppose to be the same Antelope, obtained by Capt. W. H. Williams in Uganda, and presented to the British Museum in April 1893, we do not find the character, assumed by Herr Matschie as distinctive of the species, to be quite constant. The bellies of the two specimens just referred to are scarcely darker than in West-African specimens ofC. melanorheus. Moreover, two examples of the latter species from Cameroons, collected together, differ markedly in the coloration of their bellies. We should therefore not have been inclined to admitC. æquatorialisas a distinct species were it not for the fact that the perfect skull of one of the specimens in the British Museum shows no traces of horns. This is also stated to be the case in two female specimens in the Berlin Museum upon which Herr Matschie established the species. InC. melanorheus, as already stated, the horns are always present in both sexes. Under these circumstances it is better to keepC. æquatorialis, provisionally at least, as distinct, until further information is obtained.

Mr. Scott Elliot during his recent adventurous journey to Mount Ruwenzori obtained a single specimen (now in the British Museum) of this Duiker in Uganda, and has favoured us with the following note upon it:—

“TheCephalophusof which I brought home the skin was obtained from some natives at Kampala, Uganda, in February 1894. It was a female. I believe it was found on the highlands bordering Lake Victoria Nyanza, at an elevation of from 3900 to 4100 feet.”

August, 1895.

Capra monticola,Thunb.Resa, ii. p. 66 (1789);id.Engl. Transl. ii. p. 58 (1793).Antilope monticola,Thunb.Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 314 (1811);Afz.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815).Antilope pygmæa,Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821);Burchell, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Uitenhage);Licht.Darst. d. Säug. pl. xvi. fig. 1 (animal) (1828);Fischer, Syn. Mamm. p. 469 (1829);Smuts, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 86 (1832);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl., iv. p. 452 (1844), v. p. 429 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 417 (1845);Pet.Säug. Mozamb. p. 184 (1854);Gieb.Säug. p. 322 (1859).Antilope (Cephalophus) cærula,Ham. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 268, v. p. 348 (1827);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).Antilope (Cephalophus) perpusilla,Ham. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 269, v. p. 348 (1827);A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 217 (1834);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842).Cephalophus cæruleus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 216 (1834);Harr.W. Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xxvi. fig. 2 (animal) (1840);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 163 (1892).Tragelaphus pygmæus,Rüpp.Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).Cephalophus cæruleus,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).Antilope minuta,Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 383 (1844).Sylvicapra pygmæa,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).Cephalophus monticola,Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 167 (1846);id.Knowsl.Men. p. 11 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124;Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170;Blyth, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863);Bocage, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Benguella);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 427;Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 29, pl. iv. fig. 11 (head) (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 207 (1893);Rendall, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 361 (Transvaal).Cephalophus pygmæus,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 87 (1852);Scl.P. Z. S. 1861, p. 209;Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);Gray, Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873);Garrod, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anatomy);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 153 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit.xi.) p. 164 (1892);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 301 (1889).Cephalophus bicolor,Gray, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 263, pl. xxiv. (animal);id.P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).Cephalophus pygmæus caffer,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).Cephalophus maxwelli,Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 661 (Nyasaland).

Capra monticola,Thunb.Resa, ii. p. 66 (1789);id.Engl. Transl. ii. p. 58 (1793).

Antilope monticola,Thunb.Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 314 (1811);Afz.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815).

Antilope pygmæa,Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 393 (1821);Burchell, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 6 (1825) (Uitenhage);Licht.Darst. d. Säug. pl. xvi. fig. 1 (animal) (1828);Fischer, Syn. Mamm. p. 469 (1829);Smuts, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 86 (1832);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 623 (1839);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl., iv. p. 452 (1844), v. p. 429 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 417 (1845);Pet.Säug. Mozamb. p. 184 (1854);Gieb.Säug. p. 322 (1859).

Antilope (Cephalophus) cærula,Ham. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 268, v. p. 348 (1827);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 422 (1845).

Antilope (Cephalophus) perpusilla,Ham. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 269, v. p. 348 (1827);A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 217 (1834);Less.H. N. Mamm. (Compl. Buff.) x. p. 294 (1836);id.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 178 (1842).

Cephalophus cæruleus,A. Sm.S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 216 (1834);Harr.W. Anim. S. Afr. (fol.) pl. xxvi. fig. 2 (animal) (1840);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 133 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit. xi.) p. 163 (1892).

Tragelaphus pygmæus,Rüpp.Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 37 (1842).

Cephalophus cæruleus,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 163 (1843).

Antilope minuta,Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 383 (1844).

Sylvicapra pygmæa,Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 190 (1846);id.Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. p. 142; Reprint, p. 66 (1848).

Cephalophus monticola,Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 167 (1846);id.Knowsl.

Men. p. 11 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 124;Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170;Blyth, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. p. 168 (1863);Bocage, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 743 (Benguella);Thos.P. Z. S. 1892, p. 427;Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 29, pl. iv. fig. 11 (head) (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 207 (1893);Rendall, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 361 (Transvaal).

Cephalophus pygmæus,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 87 (1852);Scl.P. Z. S. 1861, p. 209;Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 237 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869);Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 28 (1872);Gray, Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 97 (1873);Garrod, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 4 (anatomy);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 146 (1883);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 153 (1887);id.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (op. cit.xi.) p. 164 (1892);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 301 (1889).

Cephalophus bicolor,Gray, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 263, pl. xxiv. (animal);id.P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600;id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 29 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).

Cephalophus pygmæus caffer,Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 166 (1869).

Cephalophus maxwelli,Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 661 (Nyasaland).

Vernacular Names:—Numitji,Blaauw-bokje, andKleine Blaauw-bokof Dutch colonists (Burchell);Peteeof Natal colonists (Selous);Lumsaof Achikundas in Zambesia (Crawshay);Impitiof Zulus;Inhlingwaanof Shangaans (Rendall).

Size and characters of horns as inC. melanorheus. Colour as inC. maxwelli, except that the legs from the elbows and knees downwards are bright rufous.

Dimensions:—♀. Height at withers 13 inches, ear 1·6, hind foot 6·1.

Skull: basal length 4·3, greatest breadth 2·2, anterior edge of orbit to muzzle 2·4.

Hab.South Africa, wooded districts of the Cape Colony, extending westwards to Benguela and eastwards to Nyasaland.

The Blue Duiker, or “Blaauw-bok,” as the colonists of the Cape call it, is one of the oldest known Antelopes of South Africa, and still exists, although nowhere plentiful, in the wooded districts of the Colony. There has been much diversity of opinion as to the specific name by which this animal should be correctly called, but we believe we are right in adopting the termmonticolagiven to it by Thunberg as long ago as 1789. Thunberg was a distinguished naturalist and traveller of the last century, and a favourite disciple of Linnæus. During his travels to the Cape, Ceylon, Java, and Japan he amassed a rich harvest of plants and animals, which were described in the narrative of his journey, and in the memoirs of various scientific societies.

Another term used by many authors for this Antelope ispygmæa. But the trueCopra pygmæaof Linnæus, as has been shown by the late Sir Victor Brooke, refers to a different Antelope—the little Royal Antelope of West Africa. The remaining terms, such ascærulea,perpusilla, andminuta, which have been applied to this species, are all ante-dated by Thunberg’s termmonticola.

The Blue-buck, Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington tell us, is now found only in the coast districts of the Cape Colony, and occasionally in Natal, being nowhere plentiful. It is solitary in its habits and keeps to the dense bush and forest, from which it is with difficulty dislodged. When pursued by dogs it darts across from cover to cover with surprising celerity. These authors add that this Antelope emits a nasty musky odour and that its flesh is not particularly good.

How far the Blue Duiker extends beyond the limits of the Cape Colony is, as yet, a matter of considerable uncertainty, these small Duikers, owing to their close similarity, being still in a state of much confusion. According to M. Du Bocage, as recorded in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ for 1878, this species is found in Benguela and Loando, far up the west coast. On the east coast Peters obtained specimens near Mozambique, Quillemane, and Inambane, and in Boror, which, in his ‘Reise nach Mossambique,’ he refers to the present species. 1

North of the Zambesi in Nyasaland either the Blue Duiker or a closely allied species is found, of which Mr. Crawshay speaks as follows:—

“This little Antelope, or at any rate a species of Blue-buck very closely resembling it, appears to be common in parts of the Nyasa country, especially in the densely wooded slopes of mountains; and though I cannot claim to have come across any in life, I have yet seen a good number of their skins—notably among the Anyika of Chombi and the adjoining mountains, where they are said to be plentiful. On the thickly wooded mountainous slopes between Bandawe and Syiska they are also said to exist, and again in some of the hills about Cape Maclear; but everywhere natives speak of them as being shy and very difficult to bring to bag in the thick covert where they are generally found.”

In 1862 the late Dr. Gray described and figured in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ under the name ofCephalophus bicolor, what appears to be merely a piebald variety of the present species. The specimen was obtainedby Mr. John Dunn in the Ungozy Forest of Zululand. It is in the British Museum. There are also in the National Collection specimens of this Antelope obtained by Burchell at Galgebosch, near Uitenhage, in the Cape Colony.

Many specimens of the “Blau-bok,"” as it is called in the Zoological Society’s Catalogues, have been captured and brought alive to this country and exhibited in the Society’s Gardens. A male was presented by Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape, in 1861, and another by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in 1866. Other specimens of both sexes were received in 1871, 1874, 1882, and subsequent years. In every case, as we are informed by the Head Keeper and Superintendent, the females carried horns as well as the males.

Our figure of this species (Plate XXI. fig. 1) was drawn by Mr. Smit under the superintendence of the late Sir Victor Brooke. We can find no record of from what specimen it was taken.

August, 1895.

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