Fig. 33.
Head of Cobus maria, ♂.
(Copied from Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) iv. p. 297.)
In the meanwhile, however, another explorer of the Nile region had found his way home and brought with him heads of both sexes of the same Antelope. This was Consul Petherick, who after fifteen years passed in these districts[8] returned in 1859, and brought with him a collection of heads and horns of animals, which were acquired by the British Museum through Mr. Samuel Stevens, a well-known dealer in objects of Natural History at that period. Amongst these were good heads of both sexes of the present Antelope. The late Dr. Gray lost but little time in preparing descriptions of these striking objects, which were published in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for October of that year. We are indebted to the proprietors of that excellent journal for allowing us to copy the wood-block (fig. 33), which represents the head of the male brought home by Petherick. It thus came to pass that Dr. Gray’s name “maria” given in honour of his wife, “who assisted him in his studies,” takes precedence over Heuglin’s more appropriate designation “megaceros.”
Consul Petherick returned to the White Nile in 1861, on a mission to meet Speke and Grant on their journey northwards. In the first volume of his narrative of this second expedition[9] (p. 159) he records having killed a female of this same Antelope on June 15th, 1862, in the country of the Kitch negroes on the White Nile, and adds a figure of the head of the male, which was doubtless taken from the specimen sent home on the former expedition.
Several of the more recent travellers in the Nile districts appear to have also met with this Antelope. Marno (‘Reise im Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil,’ 1874, p. 387) tells us that he saw a herd near Dabbed Hanakhi on the Bahr Seraf, in 1872, and that it is not uncommon there, and is called “Til” by the natives. In the course of his second journey (see ‘Reise in der Aegyptischen Aequatorial-Provinz’) Marno met with it again in the country of the Kitch negroes on the Bahr-el-Gebel, amongst the beds of papyrus and ambatch, and gives us a figure of its head, which, although not very well drawn, is unmistakable. Schweinfurth in his ’Im Herzen von Afrika,’ p. 68, also claims to have seen large herds of this Antelope on his voyage up the White Nile in about 12° 30´ N. lat., but did not bring home any specimens. Hartmann and von Barnem, as we are kindly informed by Herr Matschie, likewise met with this species on the White Nile and secured a pair of horns which are now in the Berlin Museum.
But the only perfect examples of this scarce Antelope yet obtained are those of Heuglin, of which two (an adult male and young one) are in the Vienna Museum, and a third (an adult male) at Berlin. Herr Matschie has most kindly supplied us with full notes on the last-named specimen, which has also been examined by Sclater.
In his ‘Horns and Hoofs,’ Mr. Lydekker casts some doubt as to the real distinctness of C. maria from C. leucotis, but on this point we can assure him there is no room for hesitation. No one who examines our beautiful picture of this species (Plate XXXVII.), drawn by Smit from Mr. Wolf’s original sketch, will for a moment deny its perfect distinctness from Cobus leucotis and from every other known species of the group.
August, 1896.