MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 677 



No. VII.— A SIAMESE HOG-DEER. 



In all works on the game animals of India (including my own) it is stated that 

 the para or hog-deer (Cervus porcinus) does not extend further east than 

 Tenasserim. A hog-deer from Siam is, however, figured in plate 69 of Dr. L. 

 Heck's Lebeude Bilder aus dem Reiclie der Tiere, published in 1899. This Sia- 

 mese hog-deer is rather larger than the Indian animal, from which it also differs 

 by the absence of spots in the summer dress, a feature common, perhaps, to all 

 the representatives of the species from the countries to the eastward of the Bay 

 of Bengal. For this eastern race, as typified by the Siamese specimen above 

 referred to which was living about 1899 in the Berlin Zoological Gardens, the 

 name Cervus porcinus hecki would be appropriate. Dr. Heck mentions that Dr. 

 Sclater proposed the name Cervus minor for the spotted Indian hog-deer; but 



even if that be so the name is preoccupied. 



R. LYDEKKER. 



{From " The Field:' April 4th, 1908). 



No. VIII.— A NEW GAZELLE FROM PERSIA. 



Among the collection of trophies sent home by Major R. L. Kennion from 

 the Bujnurd district of north-east Persia is the head of a gazelle, which proves 

 to be quite distinct from the goitred or Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), as 

 well as from G. dorcas and arabica. From the goitred species it is distinguished 

 by the fawn-coloured face, with the usual gazelline markings, the long ears, and 

 the simply divergent horns, which are quite distinct from the doubly-curved, 

 sublyrate type characteristic of the ordinary Persian species. It is also markedly 

 different from the dorcas and Arabian gazelles. It comes, in fact, much nearer 

 to the Algerian Edmi gazelle (G. cuvieri) in general character, although differing 

 somewhat in the shape of the horns. This suggests affinity to a species from 

 Palestine, described by Mr. O. Thomas in the Zoological Society's Proceedings 

 for 1904 (vol. ii., p. 348) under the name of G. merrilli, which is stated to 

 be the Asiatic representative of the Edmi, but showing certain differences in horn 

 characters. How close is the relationship I have not yet been able to determine 

 but since Bujnurd is a long way from Jerusalem there is a probability that a 

 racial difference between the two gazelles will be found to exist. If this should 

 prove to be the case I would name the Bujnurd race after Major Kennion. In 

 any event the discovery is of considerable interest. Compared with the type skull 

 of G. merrilli, which is that of a fully adult animal, the horns of Major Kenni- 

 on's gazelle are much longer (ll^in. against 9iin.), carry more rings (sixteen against 

 eleven), display a less distinctly S shaped curvature when viewed in profile and 

 curve much more decidedly inwards at the tips, so as to give a slightly sublyrate 

 form in front view. This sublyrate form and distinct inward inclination of the 

 tips, as well as the relative shortness of the smooth points of the tips themselves 

 distinguish the horns from those of the north African G. rufifrons, while they are 

 equally different from those of G. cuvieri. I have, in fact, little doubt that the 

 Bujnurd gazelle is a distinct species. 



R. LYDEKKER. 

 {From " The Field," \\ih January 1908). 

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