(P.Z.S. 1896, p. 781.)
But the identity of the Egyptian Gazella leptoceros with the Algerian G. loderi is perhaps not yet exactly certain, although we have combined the English name of the latter with the scientific name of the former.
On comparing specimens from Tunis and Algeria with others from Egypt, the size of the former is slightly greater, the markings are even less defined than in Egyptian examples, the horns are less closely ringed, the nasal bones are markedly longer, the nasal opening is both longer and broader, and the premaxillæ articulate less broadly with the sides of the nasal bones.
An old male is 26 inches in height at the withers, and the skull-measurements of the type are:—Basal length 6·75 inches, greatest breadth 3·35, muzzle to orbit 4.
These differences seem to be quite constant, so far as we have materials for comparison, and we therefore think that as the Algerian form has had a name given to it, it may be provisionally retained as a subspecies, at least until these characters are shown to be variable. The accompanying figure, for the use of which we are indebted to the kindness of the Zoological Society, gives a side view of the skull and horns of the Algerian form.
Fig. 68.
Skull of Gazella leptoceros loderi, ♂.
(P.Z.S. 1894, p. 471.)
Our representations of this Gazelle (Plate LXIII.) have been prepared by Mr. Smit—that of the male (front figure) from a mounted specimen in the British Museum obtained by Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker in the Tunisian Sahara, and presented by him in 1894; that of the female from the example from Egypt living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens.