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Show 1905.] MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF LIBERIA. 199 from the same Kelipo country, near the upper Cavally, a curious statement regarding the existence in this forest of a large black pig. The natives gave him circumstantial accounts of this pig, which is said to be five or six feet long, anil he was struck by the resemblance between this story and the description first given in the ‘ Field ' newspaper of the Hylochoerus meinertzhageni. At the time he wrote to me he knew nothing about the interest I had taken in the question of this giant pig of the Congo Forest, nor did he indeed know that the pig had been discovered by the Belgians in the north-eastern limits of that region. It was the first description given in the ‘ Field ' of the discovery on the slopes of Mount Kenia which appeared to him to fit in so nearly with the stories of the natives of the Kelipo country of the pig in their country, which was of similar appearance and dimensions. Mr. Pye-Smith also sent me native stories which he thought also indicated the existence in Eastern Liberia of a Gorilla. I mention this for what it may be worth ; but the skull which was to support this theory never reached Mr. Pye-Smith, or at any rate never arrived in England. I think, myself, that some of the gorilla stories which reach the coast from the interior of Liberia are referable either to big Chimpanzees or possibly to big specimens of the Drill or Mandrill baboon. Nowhere, as yet, in Liberia have either the Drill or Mandrill baboons been found, but I should think it not improbable that they would make their appearance in the mountainous country of the far interior. I have seen only one species of baboon in this country myself. It is the common Guinea Baboon of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. A very common type of monkey in this country is the Sooty Mangabey, the manners and habits of which are very reminiscent of the baboons. I would point out one trick that Baboons and Mangabeys have in common, and that is the friendly greeting which they make by smacking the lips. I have never noticed this trait in any other monkey. The Potto and at least one species of Galago are sufficiently common to have attracted the notice of the Americo-Liberians on the coast. Colobus monkeys apparently of four species are indigenous in this country ; but I myself, and those who have been collecting information for me, have hitherto been able to obtain only two species- Colobus ursinus and C. ferruginous. Biittikofer, however, seems to have obtained specimens of Colobus polycomus and C. verus. The Bay-thiglied Monkey (Cercopi-thecus diana ignita) is very common. Bats are well represented, and amongst them are prominent as regards frequency of appearance the monstrous-looking Fruit-Bats of the genus Epomophorus. Among carnivorous mammals, the most interesting perhaps, from its relative rarity and its restriction to the West-African forest-region, is the Golden Cat (Felis celidogaster). The range of this cat has not yet been sufficiently determined, nor has a decisive opinion been passed as to the marked variations in type |
