dark sandy fawn. Face-markings indistinct, the central band visible
in youth gradually interrupted and replaced by white as age advances.
Dark facial streaks in front of eyes present, but little defined.
An anteorbital gland present. Larynx swollen, forming a peculiar
projection in front of the neck. Ears of medium length, pointed, their
backs short-haired even in winter, pale fawn. Dark lateral band not,
or scarcely, darker than the back, from which it is separated by an
indistinct light lateral band. Pygal band present, not strongly marked.
Tail 8 or 10 inches long, crested, black. Knee-brushes present, brown
or black.
Skull stoutly built; nasals broad and short; anteorbital fossa well
marked. Basal length 8 inches, greatest breadth 3·8, muzzle to orbit
4·6.
Horns of medium length, thick, evenly diverging from each other as
they curve backwards; their tips decidedly, though not abruptly, bent
inwards and slightly upwards.
_Female_ similar to the male, but without horns, or occasionally
with minute rudiments of them.
_Hab._ Western Asia from Asia Minor and Caucasia in the
west to Turkestan, Yarkand, and Mongolia in the east.
The Persian Gazelle, as it is commonly called, is by no means
restricted to Persia, but, as we shall presently show, has a wide
range through the steppes of Central Asia from the borders of Asia
Minor to Northern China. It was first made known to science by Anton
Güldenstädt, an enterprising Russian traveller and naturalist of the
last century, who met with it in 1772 in the course of his explorations
of the countries adjacent to the Black and Caspian Seas. Güldenstädt
wrote an elaborate description of it in 1878 in a memoir published two
years later in the ‘Acta’ of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St.
Petersburg, and named it “_subgutturosa_,” “because its throat
protruded slightly, but not so much as in _Antilope gutturosa_.”
Pallas, who also observed this Antelope during his travels in Central
Asia, included it under Güldenstädt’s name in his ‘Zoographia
Rosso-Asiatica.’
After Güldenstädt and Pallas several other Russian
naturalists--Hohenacker, Nordmann, and Eichwald--recorded this Gazelle
as being met with on the plains of Transcaucasia. Ménétriés, in his
memoir on the Zoology of the Caucasus published in 1832, tells us that
at that period it was very common, especially in winter, on the vast
steppes bordering the Caspian between Baku and Kur, whence, as Herr
Büchner has kindly informed us, it extends up the valley of the Kur
nearly to Tiflis. Satunin, our most recent authority on the Mammals
of this district, states that he found it throughout the steppes of
Eastern Transcaucasia, and especially numerous on the Mugan Steppe.
Whether this is the Gazelle found on the upper plains of the Tigris and
Euphrates, as reported by Danford from hearsay, seems to be uncertain,
though it probably penetrates into the highlands of Asiatic Turkey
adjacent to Mount Ararat, and is certainly found in the valley of the
Araxes.
In Persia, Dr. Blanford tells us, in his volume on the zoology of
that country, _G. subgutturosa_ is the Gazelle of the highlands,
and is found in almost all the valleys and plains from about 3000 to
about 7000 feet above the sea-level, ranging higher in winter and lower
in summer, but keeping generally within the limits mentioned. It is
unknown in the plains of Mesopotamia, and on the lower ground along the
Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
Dr. Blanford adds the following notes from the pen of the late Sir
Oliver St. John, who was very well acquainted with Persia and its
animals:--
“This is the common Gazelle of Persia, and is found everywhere
away from the forests of the Caspian and the shores of the
Persian Gulf, in which last locality it is replaced by another
species (probably _G. bennetti_). Like the Wild Ass, it
especially affects the neighbourhood of the salt deserts. It
appears to retire generally to the valleys at the base of hills
to breed, and is most commonly seen in small parties of three
to half-a-dozen. I do not remember ever having seen twenty
together. The fleetest greyhounds cannot come up with the
Gazelle when it gets a fair start, but when suddenly roused from
a hollow, or when the ground is heavy after rain, good dogs will
often pull down males.”
Dr. Blanford has included this Gazelle in the ‘Fauna of British India,’
because, as ascertained by the late Sir Oliver St. John, it occurs in
Pishin north of Quetta, now in British territory, though it is not met
with in any other part of the Indian Empire.
Throughout the sandy plains along the northern boundary of Afghanistan
this Gazelle is abundant. Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison, who accompanied the
Commission for the delimitation of the Afghan boundary in 1884, tells
us that it was occasionally seen along the whole route from Quetta
to Khusan. In the low hills and great gravel plains of the valley of
the Hari-rud they were observed everywhere, but were very wary and
difficult of approach. In June 1885, at Chinkilok, to the north-west
of Herat, between that city and the range of the Parapomisus, Dr.
Aitchison caught a young female Gazelle of this species about a day
old, and subsequently, on his way home through Persia, obtained three
others of about the same age. These four Gazelles, as we have been
told, were carried many hundred miles through Persia in large covered
baskets on each side of two camels, and were commonly believed by
the natives to be Dr. Aitchison’s four wives, the baskets being of
the same fashion as those generally used in that country for the
conveyance of women! Dr. Aitchison brought his four pets safely home to
the Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they throve well and bred in
1887, 1888, and in several succeeding years. Two of the males of this
family, born in the Society’s Menagerie in 1892 and 1894, are still
living there.
According to Herr Büchner, who has kindly supplied us with some
valuable notes on the Asiatic Gazelles, this species is found in
suitable localities all over the Transcaspian Provinces of Russia, and
ranges northwards to the steppes between the Caspian and the Aral,
and eastwards to Lake Balkash. Far beyond this it extends across
the southern portions of the great Desert of Gobi into the Chinese
Provinces of Zaidam, Alaschan, and Ordos.
On crossing the high range north of the Hindu Koosh into Eastern
Turkestan a Gazelle very similar to the Persian Gazelle is met with.
Six examples of this form were obtained by the naturalists of the
Second Yarkand Mission in 1873–74, and were described by Dr. Blanford
in his memoir on the Mammals of that Mission. Dr. Blanford says that
it is perhaps a question whether the Eastern Turkestan Gazelle should
not be raised to the rank of a species. It differs principally from
the typical form in the very much darker markings on the face and in
the much smaller degree to which the horns diverge. The size appears
rather larger than that of the typical Persian form. But as there are
some variations in the face-markings of Persian specimens, Dr. Blanford
has considered it better to regard the Yarkand race as only a variety,
which he has proposed to call _Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis_.
Of this subspecies an excellent coloured figure, drawn by Smit, is
given in the above-named work. It represents both sexes, and shows the
black markings on the face very distinctly.
As pointed out by Dr. Blanford, it is nearly certain that the Gazelle
to which Shaw refers, in his volume on ‘High Tartary, Yarkand, and
Kashgar’ (page 221), as having been brought to him at Yarkand, and
of which he says the Yarkand name is “_saikeek_,” was of the
present species--that is, of the local form _Gazella subgutturosa
yarkandensis_.
We have already mentioned the four living examples of this Gazelle
brought to London by Dr. Aitchison and presented to the Zoological
Society’s Collection. These, however, were not the first specimens of
this animal brought to England alive. As long ago as 1852 females of
the present species were obtained from Bussorah on the Persian Gulf
and presented to the Society by Alderman Finnis, and in 1869 examples
from the same country were given to the collection by the late Mr.
T. K. Lynch, F.Z.S. Other specimens, mostly from the same country,
were received in subsequent years[6]. The examples of this animal just
spoken of as being the first to arrive in England formed the subjects
of a beautiful drawing by Mr. Wolf, a coloured lithograph taken from
which has been published in the first volume of Wolf and Sclater’s
‘Zoological Sketches’ (plate xxii.).
Our figures of this species for the present work (Plate LV.) have been
prepared by Mr. Smit from the descendants of the animals brought by Dr.
Aitchison from Northern Persia, now living in the Society’s Gardens.
The series of specimens of this species in the British Museum comprises
a skull from near Ispahan in Persia, presented by Dr. W. T. Blanford,
F.R.S.; a head-skin and some horns from Gulran and Galicha, on the
Afghan frontier, collected by Dr. Aitchison during the Afghan Boundary
Commission; and some skins and skulls from the Saiar Mountains, Altai,
presented by Mr. St. George Littledale. There are likewise a skin
from the River Aksu, in Chinese Turkestan, presented by Major C. S.
Cumberland, and several fine skulls and pairs of horns from the plains
of Yarkand, obtained by the late Mr. Dalgleish, and presented to the
Museum by Mr. A. C. Hume, C.B. All these last-named specimens represent
the Yarkand subspecies, _Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis_.
_January,_ 1898.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LVI.
_J. Smit del. et lith_. _Hanhart imp_.
The Marica Gazelle.
GAZELLA MARICA.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
86. THE MARICA GAZELLE.
GAZELLA MARICA, THOS.
[PLATE LVI.]
_Gazella bennetti_, =Scl.= List Vert. An. Z. S. 1896, p. 155,
ex. _f._ (_err._).
_Gazella marica_, =Thos.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) xix. p. 162 (1897).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Reem_ of Arabs of Nejd (_Jayakar_).
Closely allied to _G. subgutturosa_, with which it shares the
substitution of white for the dark colour of the central facial band,
the general plan of coloration, and the curvature of the horns. Size,
however, very markedly smaller. General colour pale fawn. Facial
markings almost obsolete; when distinguishable they are only of the
general body-colour and very slightly defined from the paler bands
between them. Ears long, their backs whitish fawn. Pale lateral
band scarcely visible; dark lateral band and pygal band pale brown,
little marked, scarcely darker than the dorsal colour. Limbs whitish
throughout; distinct knee-tufts present.
Skull and horns, so far as the male is concerned, very much as in _G.
subgutturosa_, although much smaller. Basal length of skull (in an
old male) 6·1 inches, greatest breadth 3·15, muzzle to orbit 3·45.
_Female._ Similar, but horns only from 3 to 5 inches in length,
slender, straight or slightly curved.
_Hab._ Arabian Desert, from Nejd in Central Arabia to
Western Oman.
This little Gazelle is a recent discovery of Surgeon Lieut.-Col. A. S.
G. Jayakar, C.M.Z.S., who has been for many years resident at Muscat
in the service of the British Indian Government. Surgeon Jayakar,
whose magnificent collections of Muscat fishes are known to all
ichthyologists, has during the past years collected and presented
to the National Museum several consignments of mammals from this
little-known country. Of these Thomas published an account in the
‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society for 1894, the most remarkable
of them being a new Wild Goat, from the Akhdar Range behind Muscat,
which was named _Hemitragus jayakari_ after its discoverer.
In 1897 the British Museum received from Surgeon Jayakar another
consignment of mammals collected at Muscat within the previous two
years. In this last series, besides the Oman specimens which were
referable to species already recorded in Thomas’s paper, there were
several skins and skulls of the present Gazelle, obtained from the Nejd
or Nedsched Desert in the interior of Arabia. Thomas established his
_Gazella marica_ upon these examples.
In a letter addressed to Thomas, Dr. Jayakar says that four of the
“Reem Gazelles” were from the Nejd Desert and one from Dahireh, the
north-western district of Oman. “It is probable,” he continues,
“that the species extends down to the desert behind Oman, as that
is continuous with the Nejd Desert.” Surgeon Jayakar subsequently
presented to the Museum a sixth (female) specimen from Aboor near Adam
in Oman.
The Marica Gazelle is clearly a close relative of the Persian Gazelle,
which it seems to represent in Arabia. But it is considerably smaller
in size, paler in colour, and is nearly free from face-markings,
besides having horns in the female sex. This last point is interesting,
as it shows how little importance, in a generic sense, should be
attributed to the presence or absence of horns in the female of an
Antelope; for it appears that this species, in which the horns are
present in the female, is unquestionably more nearly related to one
in which the horns are absent in the female than to the group of
_Gazella dorcas_, in which the horns are developed in both sexes.
In February, 1892, the Zoological Society of London received as a gift
from Lt.-Col. Talbot, then British resident at Muscat, along with a
Beatrix Antelope (_Oryx beatrix_), a small female Gazelle, with
the information that it had been obtained from the Bahrein Islands, in
the Persian Gulf. Sclater was at first much puzzled to give a name to
this Gazelle, but after some hesitation came to the conclusion that it
might be a small female of the Indian _Gazella bennetti_, which is
known to extend along the coast of Baluchistan nearly to the Persian
Gulf, and accordingly entered it in the Society’s Register[7] under
that name. This animal, however, which is still living in the Society’s
Gardens, is undoubtedly a female of the present species. On reference
to the late Theodore Bent’s paper on the Bahrein Islands (P. R. G.
S. xii. p. 8, 1890) it will be found stated that on the desert which
occupies the greater part of the largest island of the group “a small
Gazelle is abundant,” and is often hunted by the Bahreini Arabs with
hawk and hounds. There can be little doubt that this Gazelle is _G.
marica_.
Our illustration of the Marica Gazelle (Plate LVI.) has been taken by
Mr. Smit from the typical specimen from Nejd in the British Museum, and
represents an adult male.
_January,_ 1898.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES PL. LVII.
_Wolf del J Smit lith_ _Hanhart imp._
The Dorcas Gazelle.
GAZELLA DORCAS.
_Published by R. H. Porter_]
87. THE DORCAS GAZELLE.
GAZELLA DORCAS (LINN.).
[PLATE LVII.]
_Gazella africana, cornibus brevibus_, =Ray=, Quadr. p. 80
(1693), whence
_Capra dorcas_, =Linn.= Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i.
p. 96 (1766).
_Antilope dorcas_, =Pall.= Spic. Zool. i. p. 11 (1767), xii.
p. 15 (1777); =Müll.= Natursyst. Suppl. p. 54 (1776); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 285 (1777); =Zimm.= Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543
(1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 117 (1780); =Gatt.= Brev.
Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Herrm.= Tab. Aff. Anim. p. 108 (1783);
=Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxix. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p.
142 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 187 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn.
An. K. p. 313 (1792); =Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 630 (1792);
=Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =G. Cuv.= Tabl. Élém. p.
163 (1798); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thierr. ii. p. 644 (1800);
=Lac.= Mém. de l’Inst., Sci. Phys. iii. p. 498 (1801); =Shaw=,
Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 350 (1801); =Turt.= Linn. S. N. i. p.
113 (1802); =G. Cuv.= Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 225 (1804); =Desm.=
N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 32 (1804); =Tied.= Zool. i.
p. 409 (1808); =Licht.= Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 168 (1814); =G.
Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 426 (1814); =Afz.= N. Act. Ups. vii. p.
220 (1815); =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75; =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 183 (1816); =G. Cuv.= Règne Anim. i.
p. 259 (1817); =Schinz=, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 386 (1821); =Desm.=
Mamm. ii. p. 453 (1822); =Desmoul.= Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p.
440 (1822); =Less.= Man. Mamm. p. 372 (1827); =H. Sm.= Griff.
An. K. iv. p. 212, v. p. 332 (1827); =J. B. Fisch.= Syn. Mamm.
p. 459 (1829); =Less.= Compl. Buff. x. p. 286 (1836); =Oken=,
Allg. Naturg. vii. p. 1369 (1838); =Laurill.= Dict. Univ. d’H.
N. i. p. 614 (1839); =Less.= N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 176
(1842); =Forst.= Descr. Anim. p. 386 (1844); =Wagn.= Schr. Säug.
Suppl. iv. p. 405 (1844), v. p. 403 (1855); =Schinz=, Syn. Mamm.
ii. p. 398 (1845); =Sund.= Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p.
267 (1847); =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii.
p. 263; Reprint, p. 83 (1848); =Schinz=, Mon. Antil. p. 3, pl.
i. (1848); =Gieb.= Säug. p. 305 (1853); =Heugl.= Ant. u. Buff.
N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 5 (1863) (in part);
=id.= N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 99 (1877); =Brehm=, Thierl. iii. p. 205
(1880).
_Cemas dorcas_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 737 (1816).
_Dorcas dorcas_, =Gray=, Med. Repos. xv. p. 307 (1821).
_Gazella dorcas_, =Og.= P. Z. S. 1836, p. 137; =Gray=, List
Mamm. B. M. p. 160 (1843); =id.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p.
231 (1846); =id.= List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847); =id.= Knowsl.
Men. p. 4, pl. iii. (1850); =id.= P. Z. S. 1850, p. 112; =id.=
Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 55 (1852); =Temm.= Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 193
(1853); =Loche=, Cat. Mamm. Algérie, p. 13 (1858); =Tristram=,
Gt. Sahara, p. 387 (1860); =Gerr.= Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p.
232 (1862); =Blyth=, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 172 (1863);
=Loche=, Expl. Alg., Mamm. p. 67 (1867); =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix.
pt. 1, p. 159 (1869); =Gray=, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 38 (1872);
=id.= Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 106 (1873); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1873,
p. 537; =Danf. & Alst.= P. Z. S. 1877, p. 276 (Asia Minor);
=iid.= P. Z. S. 1880, p. 55; =Scl.= List Vert. An. Z. S. (8)
p. 140 (1883), (9) p. 154 (1896); =Flow. & Gars.= Cat. Coll.
Surg. ii.p. 263 (1884); =Lataste=, Mamm. Barb. (Act. Soc. Linn.
Bord. xxxix.) sep. cop. p. 171 (1885); =id.= Mamm. Tunisie, p.
36 (1887); =Jent.= Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p.
136 (1889); =W. Scl.= Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 157 (1891);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 114 (1892), (2) p. 157 (1896); =Jent.=
Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 167 (1892); =Lyd.=
Horns and Hoofs, p. 180 (1893); =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467
(Algeria); =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1895, p. 523 (Egypt); =Pease=, P. Z.
S. 1896, p. 812 (range in Algeria); =Whitaker=, P. Z. S. 1896,
p. 815 (range in Tunis).
_La Gazelle_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 249, pl. xxiii. (1764),
whence
_Antilope gazella_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =Bodd.=
Elench. Anim. p. 140 (1785); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 316 (1792);
=Donnd.= Zool. Beytr. i. p. 638 (1792); =Latham & Davies=,
Faunula Indica, p. 4 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierif. Thierr.
ii. p. 642 (1800); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 316 (1801);
=Turt.= Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802) (nec _Capra gazella_,
Linn.).
_Le Kevel_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 258, pl. xxvi. (1764),
whence
_Antilope kevella_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =id.= Spic.
Zool. i. p. 12 (1767), xii. p. 15 (1777); =Müll.= Natursyst.
Supp. p. 54 (1776); =Erxl.= Syst. R. A. p. 287 (1777); =Zimm.=
Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 543 (1777); =id.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 117
(1780); =Gatt.= Brev. Zool. i. p. 82 (1780); =Schreb.= Säug.
pl. cclxx. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench. Anim. p. 142 (1785); =Gmel.=
Linn. S. N. i. p. 187 (1788); =Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 313
(1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 99 (1795); =Shaw=, Gen. Zool.
ii. pt. 2, p. 351 (1801); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) xii. p.
380 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p.
436 (1814); =Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 184 (1816); =H.
Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 213, v. p. 332 (1827).
_Cerophorus (Gazella) kevella_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Cemas kevella_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 738 (1816).
_Gazella kevella_, =Jard.= Nat. Misc. (1) vii. p. 208, pl. xxvi.
(1842).
_La Corine_, =Buff.= Hist. Nat. xii. p. 261, pl. xxvii. (1764),
whence
_Antilope corinna_, =Pall.= Misc. Zool. p. 7 (1766); =Erxl.=
Syst. R. A. p. 291 (1777); =Zimm.= Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 118
(1780); =Schreb.= Säug. pl. cclxxi. (1785); =Bodd.= Elench.
Anim. p. 143 (1785); =Gmel.= Linn. S. N. i. p. 188 (1788);
=Kerr=, Linn. An. K. p. 313 (1792); =Link=, Beytr. Nat. ii. p.
99 (1795); =Bechst.= Uebers. vierf. Thierr. ii. p. 645 (1800);
=Desm.= N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) vi. p. 219 (1803), xxiv. Tabl. p.
33 (1804); =G. Fisch.= Zoogn. iii. p. 430 (1814); =Desm.= N.
Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 184 (1816); =Goldf.= Schr. Säug. v. p.
1193 (1818); =H. Sm.= Griff. An. K. iv. p. 214, v. p. 333 (1827).
_Cerophorus (Gazella) corinna_, =Blainv.= Bull. Soc. Philom.
1816, p. 75.
_Cemas maculata_, =Oken=, Lehrb. Nat. iii. pt. 2, p. 738 (1816).
_Gazella dorcas sundevalli_, =Fitz.= SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p.
159 (1869).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Rhozal_ or _Hemar_ of Arabs of Algeria
(_Pease_); _Ghasala_ of Arabs (_Tristram_).
Size small; height at withers 21–22 inches. General colour pale fawn,
rather variable in tone. Facial markings distinct; central band
rufous fawn; streaks from eye to mouth brownish fawn, contrasting
with the white bands between them. Ears long, whitish fawn behind.
Light lateral band present, but not strongly marked; dark lateral band
brown, considerably darker than the back, but not black. Pygal band
indistinct. Knee-tufts present.
Skull rather lightly built; nasals narrow; anteorbital fossæ large and
deep. Basal length 6·6 inches, greatest breadth 3·35, muzzle to orbit
3·55.
Horns of medium length, but quite different in their shape to those of
any other species, although the difference is not very easy to explain.
Primarily it may be said that they are flattened laterally, are evenly
divergent as they curve backwards, reapproach terminally, and have
their tips bent upwards in a well-marked curve. But in addition to this
simple curvature, the middle portion of each horn is lyrated outwards,
so that the longest diameter of the horn-section above is quite in a
different plane to what it is at the base; it is in consequence of
this lyration that the horns, apart altogether from the curved tips,
reapproach each other terminally, while in all other species such
reapproach as occurs is entirely due to the incurving of the tips. The
lyration and curvature of the horns are well shown in our figure (p.
108), and a comparison of it with those of _GG. przewalskii_, _marica_,
_tilonura_, and _soemmerringi_ will show how different the method of
terminal approximation is in this species as compared with them.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but horns slender, slightly curved,
from one-half to three-fourths the length of those of the male.
_Hab._ Morocco and Algeria, and extending through Egypt
into Palestine and Syria.
Like other Antelopes known to Linnæus, the Dorcas Gazelle was placed by
the great founder of systematic nomenclature in the genus _Capra_, and
called _Capra dorcas_. The specific term selected was taken from the
Greek, in which language it signifies primarily a wild goat or fawn,
and subsequently the name of a woman, being, as we know from a familiar
passage in the New Testament, the equivalent of the Syriac “Tabitha.”
The term “_dorcas_,” however, according to good authorities, was also
applied to the present animal by Ælian and other ancient writers.
Linnæus based his _Capra dorcas_ upon the _Gazella africana_ of Ray’s
‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds,’ which there can be little doubt was intended
for the present species, although it has been supposed by some authors
to be rather applicable to the Bubal (_Bubalis boselaphus_).
In his memoir on the Antelopes, published at Berlin in 1767, Pallas
placed _Antilope dorcas_ eighth in the list, basing it on Buffon’s
“_La Gazelle_,” which it is evident, both from the figure and the
description, was taken from a specimen of the present animal.