Closely similar in all respects to G. rufifrons, but decidedly larger, the colour throughout particularly rich and brilliant. Light facial streaks not white but sandy, and little different to the general colour of the cheeks. In the single specimen known (a tanned skin), the hairs along the centre of the back and on the sides of the rump are peculiarly waved, but how far this may be due to the preparation of the skin we are unable to say. Knee-brushes dull rufous.
Skull conspicuously larger and heavier than that of G. rufifrons. Anteorbital fossæ larger and deeper. Nasal opening shorter and broader in proportion to the general size, and the upper line of the premaxillæ more curved. Basal length of the type, an old male, (circa) 8·05 inches, greatest breadth 3·86, muzzle to orbit 4·9.
Horns of male short and heavy, their curvature and proportional length about as in G. rufifrons; those of the type are 11·6 inches in length on their anterior curve.
Hab. Interior of Algeria (?).
After his return from Algeria in 1894, Sir Edmund Loder, as we have already stated, placed the whole of his series of specimens of Gazelles from that country in Thomas’s hands for examination. Besides examples of the two previously known Algerian species—Gazella dorcas and G. cuvieri—Thomas found that two other species, hitherto apparently unrecognized, were represented in the collection. Of one of these, which Thomas named G. loderi, we have treated under the head of G. leptoceros. Of the other, to which we now propose to refer, only a single specimen, consisting of a skin and a skull, was in the series. This, however, was of so entirely a different character from the three others above-mentioned that Thomas found it necessary to refer it to a new species, which he proposed to call G. rufina, from its generally bright, rich rufous colour. The specimen not having been obtained in the field, but having been purchased at a shop in Algiers (in the spring of 1877), cannot have any certain locality assigned to it; but in all probability it was brought from somewhere in the interior, as it is hardly likely that such an object would have been imported into Algiers from a distant country.
Fig. 73.
Skull of Rufous Gazelle.
(P. Z. S. 1894, p. 468.)
There can be no doubt that, as stated above, Gazella rufina is most nearly allied to G. rufifrons of Senegal, from which, however, we have already stated its points of difference. Sir Edmund Loder has had a water-colour drawing of the typical specimen prepared by Smit, which has much assisted us in our study of it. It is obviously a larger and more richly coloured animal than G. rufifrons, and its skull, of which, by the kindness of the Zoological Society, we are enabled to give the figure that originally appeared in their ‘Proceedings’ (fig. 73, p. 168), is remarkable for its stout and heavy build and short nasal opening. The only conjecture we can make respecting this somewhat problematical species is that it may possibly be the same as Gazella lævipes of Sundevall and Heuglin from North-east Africa, of which we have spoken in our article on Gazella rufifrons. It may be remarked that Sundevall, in his account of Antilope lævipes (K. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1845), has noted the existence, in the Paris Museum, of specimens from Algeria of a Gazelle which he considers identical with his species, form α (from Sennaar), and which he separates from form β (from Senegal) on account of the want of the blackish nose-spot. But even if such shall turn out eventually to be the case, the present species will still retain the name “rufina,”—“lævipes,” as we have already pointed out, being correctly treated of as a synonym of G. rufifrons.