The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
The first example of this Antelope to reach Europe was transmitted
to the Royal Zoological Museum of Berlin by Werne, a well-known
German artist and traveller, from the River Sobat in Sennaar. It was
characterized as belonging to a new species by Lichtenstein and Peters
in a communication made to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin in
1853, and in the following year was carefully described and figured
by the same authors in the ‘Denkschriften’ of the Academy. The type
specimen, an adult male, remains mounted in the gallery of the Berlin
Museum (where Sclater has examined it), and is, we believe, that from
which the original water-colour drawing of Wolf for the accompanying
Plate was prepared.
The next traveller who appears to have met with the White-eared Kob
was Consul Petherick, who brought home a skin, two heads, and several
skulls of this species on his return from the Bahr-el-Ghazal in 1859.
These specimens, which are in the British Museum, were at first
incorrectly referred by Gray, in his article upon Petherick’s Mammals,
to _Cobus lechee_, which, however, is quite a distinct species and
never ranges nearly so far north.
Besides the Berlin and British Museums the only other collection that,
so far as we know, contains a perfect example of this rare Antelope is
the Royal Museum of Turin. Here, as Count Salvadori kindly informs us,
there is a fully adult male example of _Cobus leucotis_ mounted
in the gallery, and standing about 35 inches high at the withers. This
specimen was originally received alive from the Sudan, along with other
animals, by King Victor Emmanuel, and on its death was presented to the
Turin Museum.
Heuglin, in 1861, included this species in his list of the Antelopes
and Buffaloes of North-east Africa, and gave a figure of its head,
designating the Rivers Sobat and Bahr-el-Ghazal as its localities. It
is probable that Heuglin’s “_Adenota kul_” and “_A. wuil_,”
described as new in the same memoir, should also be referred to the
present species; but as the descriptions are very meagre and, so far
as we know, no specimens of these problematical species are extant,
this must remain a matter of some uncertainty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account