( 34 ) 



There can l)e no doubt tliiit G. loderi is (lie siirao sjieeies as Q. leptoreros, 

 but it is probably a slightly different geographical race, and 1 have therefore 

 called it liere (J. leptoceros loderi. 



3. Gazella dorcm (L.) (or subspecies ?).— A Gazelle inhabits the i)lains 

 immediately south of the southern Atlas (Aures mountains), also the great jjhiins 

 between Lagliouat and Ghardaia, and extends, apparently, into the (!hott region. 

 This Gazelle has always been called it. dorcas, and no doubt it belongs to the 

 same species as the animal now called G. dorcas in the Nile districts ; whether 

 it will be found to differ slightly, and form a geogra])hicaI race, cannot at 

 present be settled, as sufficient material is not available to decide abont this 

 question. 



Mr. Alfred E. Pease {Proc Zool. Soc, London, l.sfj'i) thinks that 0. dorcns 

 is confined to a belt of 12i) or loO miles wide, south of the Aures monntains, and 

 that in the more soutliern Sahara it is replaced by the l{eem ; the latter, how(n-cr, 

 a totally different species, is restricted to the sand-dunes, and never occurs iu the 

 hammada or clayey desert. Gazelles with curved horns, however, are found far 

 down into the desert, and probably farther south than any Reera, in the humniada 

 and mountains. These Gazelles are very much like G. donyi.t, but the specimens 

 I brought home appear to be : 



4. Oazella iMiheUa Gray. — We shot a middle-aged, nut very old male near 

 Ain Guettara, on the southern escarpment of the plateau of Tademai't. Its length, 

 without tail, was 88, the tail Di;"), height at shoulders TjT, at rumj) (35 cm. An 

 old female with very long horns was obtaine<l in the bed of the Oned Saret. We 

 measured its length as 83, tail 14, height at shoulders o5, at rump G2 ciu. 

 These specimens are rather brighter, more reddish in colour, than most 

 G. dorcas, and the tips of the horns of the male are strongly bent inwards. 

 Mr. Oldfield Thomas saiil at once that they appeared to be G. isahella, and Mr. 

 Rothschild, who kindly comjiared the specimens with me in the British Museum, 

 came to the same conclusion. 



I have no doubt that this is right, but I must confess that the two Gazelles, 

 G. dorcas and isahella, are very much alike, and that it is very desirable to have 

 series of each for comparison, not only horns ! Horns of Gazelles can' be bought 

 in i^nantities in Biskra and elsewhere, and I have seen among them many 

 varieties and some specimens of which it would be difficult to say if they were 

 dorcas or isabella. Horns which we picked nj) (on the sknils) north of El-(Jolea are 

 apparently also i.^ubcUa. Horns of G. Icptoccros (loderi) arc also common on the 

 markets of Biskra and Touggourt. 



Ga^clla isabella is not rare along the oueJs and among the hills south of 

 Ouargla to Aiu Guettara, and apparently to the Uued El-Abiodh, north of lu-Salah. 

 It goes about in small flocks or singly, and is in every case very shy. As food is 

 scarce in the hammada, it leeds, as a rale, in the river-beds, where its spoor is 

 often seen very plentifully, but it retires, partially or mostly, to the hammada to 

 rest during the daytime. It is very fond of certain grasses, such as Aristida 

 pluinosa and Stipa tortilis. 



For the differences between G. dorcas and isnbclla may be consulted : 

 Sclater & Thomas, The Book of Antelopes, iv. pp. 'J'J-lU8 and 151-154, plates 

 LVII. and LXIV., also G. S. Miller, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mm. 42, pp. 171-172, ^\. 15, 



