316 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [Mar. 18, 



is identical ; and the horns only differ in being a little more curved 

 backwards, and in the curve, as viewed from the front, being a little 

 more lyrate. The differences, however, are insignificant. I have 

 little doubt that I saw the same Gazelle (easily distinguishable 

 even at a distance, by its colour, from G. subgutturosa) throughout 

 the portion of Baluchistan which I traversed near the sea ; and I 

 think it highly probable that it is the same species which, as I am 

 informed by Major St. John, is found along the whole north-east 

 coast of the Persian Gulf to Bushire*. It appears most likely that 

 the range of G. bennetti in this direction will be found nearly to 

 correspond with that of Coracias indica and probably some other 

 Indian forms, which appear to extend as far as the head of the 

 Persian Gulf. 



Blyth, in his ' Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the 

 Asiatic Society (Calcutta),' and Jerdon, in his ' Mammals of India,' 

 refer under G. bennetti to a Gazella christii, Gray ; and Jerdon's 

 remarks are so interesting that I extract them. He writes : — 



" Gazella christii, Gray, from Sindh and Cutch, is said to be 

 paler in colour, and with the horns more slender and smaller than in 

 the Indian Gazelle, and with the points abruptly bent inwards. 

 This is joined by Blyth to G. bennetti. I have seen one or two heads 

 of Gazelles, considered distinct from the Chi/caraf, called 'the desert 

 Antelope,' smaller and with the horns more bent forwards. I only 

 looked on them at the time as a dwarf or stunted Chikara ; but it is 

 possible that there may be another species extending from Beloo- 

 chistan across Sindh into the plains of Rajpootana, either G. sub- 

 gutturosa or G. christii, if distinct from G. bennetti. Indeed Mr. 

 Blyth, in a note p. 172 of his Catalogue (transposed with another 

 on the opposite page), says, ' An animal marked Gazella christii, 

 Gray, in the London United-Service Museum, appeared to me to be 

 G. subgutturosa. It was labelled from Sindh, but might have been 

 brought thither from beyond the passes.' " 



So far as I have been able to find, no animal was ever described 

 by Dr. Gray as Gazella christii%. The name is mentioned as MS. 

 in the Catalogue of the specimens of Mammalia in the British 

 Museum, part. hi. Ungulata furcipeda, published in 1852, p. 63, as 

 a synonym of G. bennetti. Whence Dr. Jerdon obtained his 

 information as to the locality and characters of G. christii, I have 

 not been able to learn ; and Sir V. Brooke, who has an extensive 

 knowledge of the subject, informs me that he has not met with the 

 name elsewhere. 



* Major St. John assures me that the Bushire species is certainly not G. sub- 

 gutturosa, that it is a redder Gazelle than that is, and that the female has horns. 

 There are Gazelles on one at least of the Persian-Gulf islands ; but they are said 

 to have been introduced from the Arabian coast. 



f The Hindustani name for the Gazelle ; more correctly Chinlcara, but the n 

 is nasal and often scarcely sounded. 



\ I at first thought this might havo been a Sisfan Antelope, named after 

 Captain Christie, the first Englishman who traversed Sistan. But the name 

 appears to have been given after Dr. Turnbull Christie, who presented speci- 

 mens to the British Museum. 



