On Cephalophus Silvicultor (Afzelius)

In May of this year died in the Rotterdam Zoological Garden the beautiful male-specimen of Cephalophus silvicultor: immediately it has been brought over to Leyden, so that we could study it in the flesh, take all measurements and make casts of different important parts. The skeleton and the highly artistic stuffed skin is now in our collection. Besides it there are in our Museum the skin of a nearly adult male with its skeleton, the skull of another adult male-specimen, the skull of a nearly adult female and finally the mounted skin of a young female with its skeleton. The latter died in 1894 in the Rotterdam Zoological Garden and is like the first mentioned adult male from the Congo: the other specimens have been procured by Mr. Jackson Demery from Liberia, Grand Cape Mount, in 1892, 1893 and 1896. The adult male from the Congo lived 9 years in the Rotterdam Garden: it therefore may be called a very adult specimen. In comparing the original description and figures of animal and horns given by Afzelius in 1815 with those in the most recently published monograph by Sclater and Oldfield Thomas in May 1895, everyone must confess that here certainly something is incorrect and that either Afzelius or the authors of the »Book of Antelopes” are wrong. Although in that Book is stated that the illustration of this species on Plate XIII is copied from a watercolour drawing taken in April 1894 by Keulemans from the very same Rotterdam-male now stuffed before me, I can assure that the mentioned illustration is perfectly incorrect!