678 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



No. IX.— MAJOR KENNION'S GAZELLE. 



In reference to the gazelle referred to in the Field, Jan. 11th last, p. 71, 1 have 

 just received a letter from Major Kennion in which he states his willingness to 

 present the (specimen to the British Museum, and also that the animal was killed 

 not at Bujnurd, but at Kain on the Afghan Frontier of Persia. It is also 

 mentioned in the letter that the local shikaris recognise two kinds of gazelle in 

 that district, one being, of course, the ordinary Persian goitred gazelle, and the 

 other the one under consideration. The British Museum possesses another 

 head of the same gazelle presented by Mr. T. W. Greenfield in 1899, and shot 

 by him on the Helmund river in Baluchistan. It has hitherto been referred to 

 Gazella subgutturosa as has also the Yarkand gazelle, under the racial name of 

 G. s. yarcandensis. I am, however, now of opinion that the saikik or Yarkand 

 gazelle (as was long ago suggested by its describer, Dr. Blanforc'O is entitled to 

 rank as a distinct species under the name Gazella yarcandensis. It is distin- 

 guished from the goitred gazelle (G. subgutturosa) by its superior size which is 

 about equal to that of the North African edmi (G, cuvien), larger ears, distinct 

 dark face markings, which are not interrupted by a white band below the horns 

 and a darker brown nose spot. The horns are stouter and more distinctly 

 sublyrate without the double backward curve of the goitred species. From the 

 edmi the saikik is distinguished by the more lyrate horns of the bucks and the 

 absence of horns in the does. 



So far as I can determine in the absence of skins of the latter (which are 



preserved in Calcutta), Major Kennion's gazelle seems to be a local race of the 



saikik for which the name Gazella yarkandensis hennioni may be suggested. It 



appears to be distinguished by the paler face markings, which are sandy rufous, 



with a dark brown nose spot in Major Kennion's specimen, and the more 



closely ridged horns, of which the tips in mature bucks are less turned inwards. 



The number of ridges on the horns is from sixteen or seventeen to nineteen or 



twenty, whereas fourteen to sixteen is more usual in the Yarkand race, of which. 



however, the British Museum does not possess any very old examples. The 



Baluchi head presented by Mr. Greenfield is that of a very old buck, in which 



the rufous has faded to grey, with a consequent accentuation of the nose spot, 



and another spot in advance of each eye on the lateral face stripe. The tip of 



the nose and muzzle has also become white. On the assumption that I am right 



in referring this Eastern Persian and Afghan gazelle to the same species as the 



Yarkand animal, it will be convenient to employ the name of saikik gazelle for 



the species, and to designate its two races respectively as the Yarkand and the 



Afghan saikik. 



R. LYDEKKER. 



{From " The Field," 21st March 1908.) 



No. X.-HABITAT OF THE CHINESE PANGOLIN 

 (MANIS A U RITA). 

 I notice that Blanford in discussing the habitat of the Malay pangolin 

 M anisjavanica) in his Fauna of British India, Mammalia, 1891, p. 607, says 



