ORDER ARTIODACTYLA : EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 687 



Slender-horned Gazelle; Loder's Gazelle. Gazelle blanche; 

 Gazelle des dunes (Fr.). Gazella del deserto (It.) 



GAZELLA LEPTOCEROS (F. Cuvier fils) 



Antilope leptoceros F. Cuvier fils, in Geoffrey and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. Mammif., 

 vol. 7, livr. 72, text to pis. 373-374, 1842. ("Sennaar" doubtless erroneous; 

 the type locality was "probably desert between Giza and Wadi Natron, 

 Lower Egypt, as the type-specimen was brought to Paris by James Bur- 

 ton, circa 1833" (Flower, 1932, p. 438).) 



SYNONYM?: Gazella loderi Thomas (1894). 



FIGS.: Geoffrey and Cuvier, loc. cit.; Heuglin, 1877, vol. 2, pi. accompanying 

 p. 101; Thomas, 1894, pi. 32, p. 471, fig. 2; Sclater and Thomas, 1898, 

 vol. 3, pi. 63, pp. 147-148, figs. 67-68; Bryden, 1899, pi. 9, fig. 8; Anderson 

 and de Winton, 1902, pi. 61; Lydekker, 1908, pi. 9, fig. 8; Selous, 1914, 

 pi. 53; Lydekker and Elaine, 1914, vol. 3, p. 70, fig. 15; Zammarano, 1930, 

 p. 30, fig.; Ward, 1935, p. 166, figs. 



Two subspecies have been recognized by some authorities: G. L 

 leptoceros (F. Cuvier fils), of Egypt and presumably Libya, and 

 G. L loderi Thomas, of Algeria and Tunisia. Since they are doubt- 

 fully distinct, both will be treated together here under the name of 

 G. leptoceros. 



Among the Gazelles, this species in particular is in process of 

 serious diminution. It is less shy than the others, and its tracks may 

 be followed very easily by any hunter on the sand of the Erg. Its 

 disappearance from the northern Sahara, like that of the Addax, is 

 only a question of years. (Lavauden, 1926, p. 27.) 



Sexes alike in color ; upper parts very light fawn ; a slightly darker 

 line on the sides, bordering the white venter; tail also darker, with 

 a black tip; upper part of limbs fawn; brushes at knees; lower parts, 

 area about eyes, sides of muzzle (paralleling the frontlet) , ears, and 

 end of muzzle, white (F. Cuvier fils, op. cit.} . Height of male at 

 shoulder about 25 inches [28 in type of loderi]. Horns slender 

 closely and heavily ringed nearly to the tip; ordinarily rather 

 straighter than in other species, curving but slightly backwards; 

 sometimes diverging very widely. Horns of female slenderer and 

 even less curved than in the male. (Sclater and Thomas, 1898, vol. 

 3, pp. 137-138.) Record length of horns on front curve, 16| inches 

 (Ward, 1935, p. 173) . 



Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Heuglin (1877, vol. 2, p. 102) 

 reports this species in the Libyan Desert in the vicinity of Lake 

 Natron and the Fayum. 



In 1895 Bramley (1896, pp. 863-865) saw several of these gazelles 

 in the Western Desert, within sight of the Fayum. Here the Arabs 

 were in the habit of capturing the animals in ring traps. In Novem- 

 ber and December they would also catch the fawns with trained 

 hounds. 



