180 GEPHALOPHUS SILVICULTOR. 



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! 



The very typical colored spot on the hinder part of the 

 back is badly represented in Sclater's book ; the Rotterdam- 

 specimen never showed that colored spot so extended to 

 the tail ; in so far Afzelius' figure is much more correct, 

 as will grow evident from my descriptions of the skins in 

 our Museum. 



Dr. J. Biittikofer, the Director of the Zoological Garden 

 at Rotterdam wrote me as follows: 



»The specimen made his entrance in the Rotterdam 

 » Zoological Garden on May 2^^^ 1891, directly imported 

 »from Banana, Congo: at that time it was not yet fully 

 » adult. All the ofiScers and servants at present in func- 

 »tion and having been there on the date of the arrival 

 » of the animal, declare that as to the color it in no way 

 y>has changed, and that the yellow color never has occu- 

 »pied more space towards the haunches than at the moment 

 »of its dying: as to the short hairs on the haunches they 

 »were as short as now and colored as now, so that at 

 » first the men supposed that the hairs had been rubbed 

 »off: direct observation however soon learned that this 

 » could not be so as the animal never was observed rub- 

 »bing that parts of the body; these short hairs are there- 

 »fore characteristic to that species: Mr. Keulemans must 

 »have lived in the supposition that these hairs had been 

 » rubbed off, so he corrected nature and made an idealized 

 » drawing or as the German say a »verschlimmbessert" 

 »one". So far Dr. Büttikofer. 



I cannot understand how the authors of the Book of 

 Antelopes could reproduce Mr. Keuleman's drawing without 

 any comment, for as a matter of fact the specimens in 



r^otes from the Leyden IVIuseuiTi, ^"ol. XXII. 



