natural History. 21 



a sories of rather irregular black spots along lower part of the side 

 alternating with vertebral spots, so that the ground colour appears as 

 decussating stripes. Belly densely checkered with black. Two 

 yellowish lines on the upper part of the head diverging from the 

 muzzle over the eyes to the sides of the head ; from each side of the 

 vertical a line diverging towards the occiput. Length 10 inches, 

 of which the tail is li iuches. 



NOTE ON A PROBABLE NEW SPECIES OF IBEX. 

 (Capra Dauvergnii, nob.) or variety of Capra sibirica. 



BY R. A. StEKNDALE, F.Z.S. 



I have always been averse to multiplication of species, and the 

 tendency of modern research has been to diminish the number of 

 existing sub-divisions; it is therefore with some hesitation I bring 

 forward the claims of the subject of my note to separation from the 

 two known species of Oriental Ibex — Capra sibirica and Capra JEga- 

 grus ; Capra sheen and Capra himalayica of authors being identical 

 with C. sibirica. The question of hybridization between the various 

 marked species of Caprse and Oves has not as yet received the 

 attention that it should, and I think on examination it will be found 

 that certain named species will prove to be hybrids, notably Ovis 

 Brooheij but on this point I shall have more to say on a future 

 occasion. The horns of which I have given an illustration 

 herewith were purchased for me some months ago in Kashmir 

 by my friend Mons. H. Dauvergne, simply on account of their 

 size, being 52 inches in length. On receiving them I was struck 

 by their remarkable divergence from the types of C. sibirica and 

 JEgagrus, and from any Ibex horn I had ever seen. At first I took 

 it to be a hybrid between the two above-mentioned species, but I 

 subsequently abandoned this idea, for it bears no resemblance at 

 all to the latter beyond the departure from the usual curve of th 

 well-known Himalayan Ibex. Eccentric forms are not uncommon 

 in the Persian animal, and Mr. Danford figures a pair, in his article 

 in the P. Z.S. for 1875, page 458, the tips of which turning inwards 

 cross each other. In my specimen the horns sweep backwards and 

 outward having widely divergent tips, and in a case of hybridization 

 I should look for some modification of the section of the horn the 



