Part 63

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 is C. 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 philantomba et S.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, et whitfieldi, =Wagn.= Schr. Säug., Suppl. v. pp. 427–429 (1855).

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

VERNACULAR NAME:--Fulintongue of 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 in C. 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 the rump characteristic of C. 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 the Antilope pygmæa of 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 as Antilope 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 name Antilope 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 as C. maxwelli (plate xi. a), secondly as C. punctulatus (p. 11), and thirdly as C. 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.

Skull of Cephalophus 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 Sierra Leone there is a specimen in the British Museum presented by Colonel Sabine, R.E., which is the type of Cephalophus 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.

33. THE BLACK-RUMPED DUIKER.

CEPHALOPHUS MELANORHEUS, GRAY.

Subspecies a. 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).