Vol. XIV, pp. 29-32 April 5, 1901 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



TWO NEW BIGHORNS AND A NEW ANTELOPE FROM 

 MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



In the course of field work in Mexico in 1899, Mr. E. W. 

 Nelson, a field naturalist of the U. S. Biological Survey, and 

 his able assistant Mr. E. A. Goldman, secured a series of eight 

 Mountain Sheep or Bighorns in the barren desert mountains 

 about Lake Santa Maria, Chihuahua. Comparison of these 

 specimens with their nearest allies, Ovis nelsoni and 0. cana- 

 densis*, shows that they differ specifically from either. The 

 new sjjecies may be known as follows: 



*The type locality of the northern Bighorn, Ovin canadensis Shaw, is 

 the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. The Biological Survey has 

 secured topotype material from this region (collected by J. Alden 

 Loring) which has been used in the comparisons on which the present 

 paper is based. 



Respecting the priority of the name canadensis Shaw (1803), over cervina 

 ])esmarest (1804), it may be stated that both Bolton (Cat. Sci. Periodi- 

 cals, p. 624, 1885) and Sherborn (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 6th Ser. XV, 

 pp. 375-376, 1895) after independent investigation agree that Shaw's name 

 canadensis Avas published in 1803, while no one ever claimed that Desma- 

 rest's name cervina appeared before 1804. In the winter of 1890, when 

 preparing my report on the Mammals of Idaho, and unaware of Bolton's 

 determination of the date, I looked into the matter with some thorough- 

 ness and adopted the name canadensis as of unquestionable priority (N. 

 Am. Fauna, No. .5, p. 81, 1891). 



5— Biol. Soc. Wash. Vol. XIV, 1901. (29) 



