NO. 1990. MAMMALS FROM THE ALTAI MO UNTAIN8—H0LLISTER. 531 



and the horns are very heavily knobbed. The two skulls measure: 

 Condylobasal length, 251, 250 mm.; greatest breadth, 145, 146; upper 

 tooth row, alveoh, 71, 72; lower tooth row, 70, 73.5; length of horns 

 over curve, 558, 563; 506, 475; chcumference of horn over first basal 

 knob, 260, 251; distance between horn tips, 310, 204. 



Lyman's notes contain only one reference to ibex in Mongoha. In 

 the Tayliike Valley, not far from Tarkuta Pass, he ''frequently saw 

 ibex on the north side of the valley, among the rocks. They were all 

 females and young, of a rather light yellowish color. They did not 

 confine themselves to broken ground, but often fed on the grassy hill 

 tops." Later on, July 22, after crossing back into Siberia by the 

 Tarkuta Pass, he wrote: 



I hunted the mountains to the east and west for ibex. Saw no females, but on the 

 mountain to the west saw two bands of male ibex on two succeeding days, one each 

 day. The first lot consisted of 5 or 6, from which I shot one. Two or three of 

 these carried horns much larger than the one shot. The second lot I could not count 

 accurately; there were 12 to 18, perhaps, and of these 6 were very large, with horns aa 

 largo as the head afterwards purchased in Kosh-Agatch. Shot one from this lot. I 

 had a very good look at the large ones as they ran off, and there is no doubt as to the 

 size of their horns. Both bands were feeding on grassy tops, not among rocks. These 

 ibex were not so farsighted as the sheep, and when shot into the bands ran a little way 

 and then stopped to look back before making off. In this they resemble our mountain 

 goat, though not stupid to the same degree. They carry shot remarkably; the second 

 one I killed was hit clean through the body, yet ran more than a mile. The meat of 

 the first ibex was very good eating. 



PROCAPRA ALTAICA HoUister. 



1913. Procapra altaica Hollister, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 60, No. 19, p. 1, Feb- 

 ruary 8. 



We sighted four gazelles the first day south from Kosh-Agatch, 

 while crossing the Chuisaya Steppe. They started at a good distance 

 and ran directly into a low sweepmg cloud of wind, rain, and sand, 

 disappearmg as if by magic. The many skins seen in the trading 

 post at Kosh-Agatch were said to come chiefly from the Mongolian 

 side; and though formerly abundant on the Chuisaya Steppe, gazelles 

 are by no means common there at the present day. We had one day 

 in the center of the steppe on our return journey, and I find the fol- 

 lowing in Lyman's journal regarding the gazelles: 



Gazelles on the Kosh-Agatch steppe are scarce and wild. They keep to the open 

 plain and do not get into the foothills, or at least I could find none in that type of 

 country. I saw one band at a great distance on oiu* way southward. On the retm-n 

 journey I devoted five or six hoiu-s to hunting and saw but one lot of four males. On 

 the plains it is impossible to get near them. I missed a shot at about 300 yards. Saw 

 also two lots of three or four females and young. My skillful hunter Yam-bai went out 

 by himself for the whole afternoon, but could not get one. This is excellent proof 

 that they are rare and shy in this region. The character of the feed on the Kosh- 

 Agatch steppe is much the same as that in the foothills near the Suok Plain, Mongolia, 

 thin grass growing on stony, desert-like ground. 



