638 SIR V. BROOKE ON THE ROYAL ANTELOPE. [May 21, 



peau museums, figures 1 and 3 of plate 43 and the drawings 

 of feet set in gold being, as I shall endeavour to show presently, 

 undoubtedly referable to the little Royal Antelope. In 1754 the 

 Museum of Adolphus Frederick appears to have contained additional 

 materials for the consideration of Linnaeus ; and it is in his catalogue 

 of this collection that he first gives a definite name to the species. 

 As far, therefore, as record serves us, the two chief, probably the only 

 sources from which Linnaeus derived his knowledge of the species 

 were, first, the ' Thesaurus ' of Seba, with possibly, as Prof. Sundevall 

 suggests, an examination of Seba's collection, and, secondly, the 

 Museum of Adolphus Frederick. In the 2nd edition of the ' Sys- 

 tema Naturae ' (1740), six years subsequent to the publication of 

 the ' Thesaurus," Linnaeus first mentions the species ; we there find 

 the diagnosis " Capra pedibus digito humano angustioribus," with 

 reference to plate 43. fig. 3 of the 'Thesaurus.' In the 6th 

 edition of the Syst. Nat. (1748), this diagnosis and reference are 

 repeated word for word. In 1754 Linnaeus wrote his catalogue of 

 the collection of Adolphus Frederick, and in it gives new information 

 derived from new sources. He describes a specimen in that col- 

 lection in the following manner (p. 12): — "Feet scarcely thicker 

 than a penholder ; colour grizzly ; the size of a cat ; neck rather 

 ashy ; underneath tbe following parts are white — the tail, throat, 

 abdomen, breast, and inner thighs ; ears ovate and rather naked." 

 To his description he appends the diagnosis which I have given 

 above from the 6th and 7th editions of the ' Systema Naturae,' 

 referring still to Seba's plate 43. figure 3, and proposing for the 

 species the name of Capra perpusilla. In this catalogue, however, 

 at the same page, Linnaeus mentions, under the name of Cervus 

 guineensis, a specimen the diagnosis of which in no way agrees 

 with his Capra perpusilla. He thus describes it : — " From Guinea ; 

 of a greyish colour, underneath blackish ; size of a cat ; a streak 

 between the ears and a spot over the eye black ; throat on both 

 sides longitudinally black ; chest black in the middle, a dark line 

 running along the flanks as far as the tarsal joint ; a blackish line 

 from the anus to the tarsal joints ; anterior surface of the fore limbs 

 as far as the carpal joint black, and a narrow black line drawn to the 

 feet ; ears rather long ; tail underneath black ; tibiae double as thick 

 as those of the next species " (viz. Capra perpusilla}. The existence 

 of these dark markings so carefully described clearly indicate a wide 

 distinction between this specimen and that which supplied the 

 diagnosis of the species immediately following in the catalogue, in 

 which no dark markings are mentioned — the throat and underparts 

 described as black in C. guineensis, being, on the contrary, in C. 

 perpusilla described as white. The purity of this colour is, as may 

 be seen in the specimens before the Society, most characteristic 

 of the Royal Antelope. In the 10th edition of the Syst. Nat., pub- 

 lished four years after the Catalogue, as is not a little remarkable, 

 Linnaeus, regardless of the name Capra perpusilla given in his former 

 publication, gives to the same species the new name of Capra 

 pygmcea; nor does he enlarge his diagnosis, merely bringing down 



