. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. 138 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM When De Mist returned to Holland, he took with him a small collection of natural history specimens and some ethnographical material. Van Marum (1812) gave a report on these specimens, the preparation of which was delayed because he had hoped to receive their descriptions from Lichtenstein. De Mist's gift consisted of 333 species of insects (put in order by Lichtenstein in South Africa), and besides it included: 'De Huiden van een Leeuw, van een Tyger, en van een
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. 138 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM When De Mist returned to Holland, he took with him a small collection of natural history specimens and some ethnographical material. Van Marum (1812) gave a report on these specimens, the preparation of which was delayed because he had hoped to receive their descriptions from Lichtenstein. De Mist's gift consisted of 333 species of insects (put in order by Lichtenstein in South Africa), and besides it included: 'De Huiden van een Leeuw, van een Tyger, en van een Blaauwe Bok (Antilope Leucophaea), alsmede de Horens van verscheidene soorten van Antilopen en van een Rhinoceros' (Van Marum 1812: 166). [Translated: The skins of a lion, a leopard, and a blue antelope (Antilope Leucophaea), as well as the horns of several species of antelopes and those of a rhinoceros.] One wonders how much Lichtenstein knew about the specimen brought home by De Mist. Considering his understanding of the blue antelope's extinction in South Africa and his personal acquaintance with De Mist, it is almost impossible that he would not have heard about it, and may even have examined it. In his travel book, Lichtenstein (1811: 265) said that Tm Jahre 1800 war noch einer geschossen, dessen Fell jetzt in Leyden aufbewahrt wird; seitdem aber hat man keine mehr gesehen.' In a paper about antelopes written just a few years later, Lichtenstein (1814: 160) clearly described a skin of the blue antelope that he had examined personally: 'Das Fell, nach welchem ich beschreibe, war leider das letzte das gesehen worden ist. Man hat seit 1799, wo dieses Thier geschossen ward, keine wieder eingetroffen.' He did not say where he saw the animal. However, it is very tempting to assume that Lichtenstein was talking about De Mist's specimen of the blue antelope. Why did Lichtenstein write, in 1811, that the animal was 'now in Leiden'? He returned to Europe in June 1806 and he may hav
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