Cephalophus spiniger, Büttikofer, Reisebild. Liberia, ii. p. 379 (1890).
Nanotragus perpusillus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 126; id. Ann. Mag. N. H. (2) viii. p. 143 (1851); id. Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 30 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 98 (1873).
Antilope perpusilla, Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. 1887, p. 67.
Vernacular Name:—Sang of the Veys in Liberia (Büttikofer).
Height about 10 inches at withers. General colour bright rufous fawn, browner on head and fore back, richer posteriorly and on sides of neck and flanks. Chin and under surface pure sharply defined white. Limbs rufous, except a narrow line down the posterior side of the fore and the anterior side of the hind ones, which is white. Tail about 2½ inches long, without its tuft, bright rufous above, except at its tip, where it is pure white, as it is also below.
Skull as described above. Dimensions of an old male example:—Basal length (c.) 3·5 inches, greatest breadth 1·9, muzzle to orbit 1·84.
Horns less than an inch long, sharply pointed, perfectly smooth and without ridges.
Hab. Forests of West Africa from Liberia to Ashantee.
The literary history and complicated synonymy of the Royal Antelope occupied the attention of the late Sir Victor Brooke, when he was engaged in the study of the Ruminants, for a considerable period, and the result was a valuable communication to the Zoological Society of London on the 21st May, 1872, which was subsequently published in the Society’s ‘Proceedings.’ Being engaged on a work originally planned by our lamented friend, and having the use of the illustrations which he has so carefully prepared, we cannot do better than commence our account of this species with a résumé of his excellent elucidation of this difficult subject, which is nearly as follows:—
Bosman, in his Description of the Gold Coast, published at Utrecht in 1704[2], seems to have been the first author who mentions the Royal Antelope. After describing the colour and very small size of the animal, and the custom of making the feet into pipe-stoppers (one of which he states he had sent home set in gold), Bosman writes:—“the negroes call it the ‘King of the Harts.’ This expression, no doubt, originated the English name of ‘Royal Antelope,’ by which this species has always been known.”