794 ON A. WEST-AFRICAN KOB ANTELOPE. [Juue 20, 



5. On a West-Africau Kob Antelope. 

 By R. Lydekker. 



[Received June 1, 1899.] 

 (Plate LIII.) 



Among a series of specimens from Sierra Leone recentlj' offered 

 for purchase to the Natural History Museum are the skull and skin 

 of a small female Kob (Plate LIII.) which do not agree with those 

 of any species of the genus C'ohus hitherto described. The entire 

 specimen was obtained, together with examples of C. fo6, between the 

 Great and Little Scarcies Rivers, in the Sierra Leone Hinterland. 

 The skull, which is slightly larger than that of the female Kob 

 described as Cobus senganus, indicates an adult animal. And 

 since it presents all the characters of the skull of the above-named 

 genus, while the skin is likewise similar in general characters to 

 the pelage of other Kobs, the serial position of the animal may be 

 taken for granted. 



In size this Kob was approximately the same as the Senga Kob, 

 or Buffon's Kob ; and it evidently belongs to the same subsection 

 of the genus. Prom the Puku and Senga Kob (or Puku) it is 

 distiugaished by the black on the front surface of the fore legs and 

 the lower portion of the liiud pair ;. the hair also is shorter. 



The markings and plan of coloration are very similar to those of 

 C. coh, but, instead of being uniformly foxy, the general colour of 

 the middle of the back is dark chocolate-brown, gradually turning 

 into tawny on the flanks, and thence into the dirty white of the 

 abdomen. The leg-markings are similar to those of 0. cob, the 

 white rings on each fetlock being very distinct. There is also a 

 similar white ring round the eyes. The hair on the withers and 

 lower part of the neck is reversed. 



So far as 1 can see, the skin indicates an animal closely allied to 

 C. cob, but distinguislaed markedly by its colour. As the skin is 

 not mounted, it is impossible to ascertain whether any differences 

 in addition to coloration distinguish the two. But since I am not 

 aware of the pi'evalenee of melanism as an individual character of 

 foxy antelopes, it appears highly probable that the skin and skull 

 under consideration indicate an undescribed form. Whether the 

 difference be of specific or subspecific value, it is hard to say ; but, 

 assuming its right to distinction, the form i-epresented by the 

 aforesaid skull and skin may be named Oobus ni(jricans. 



I may add that among the same collection are also specimens of 

 C. cob, a species of which the Museum has hitherto had no adult 

 examples. 



I may likewise take this opportunity of mentioning that Mr. it. 

 T. Coryndon has lately presented to the Museum male and female 

 skins of a Kob from Barotse-land \\ hich I identify with G. senc/anus, 

 described on the evidence of a female skull and skin obtained on 

 the upper Loangwe river, westward of the northern end of Lake 



