988 UNGULATA 



Ocis masimon : foxy red with brown stripe on back, white 

 spots (Flecken) on head and flanks ; horns Hght coloured, curved 

 in a single plane. 



Ovis matscJdei : more brownish grey in general colour, the 

 face ash-grey rarely marked with white ; horns dark brown, 

 curved in a spiral with tips directly strongly outward. 



It seems not improbable that the Corsican form (occidentalis) 

 will prove to be distinct from true Ovis musimon. The single 

 male skin examined shows no appreciable peculiarities ; but the 

 females are said to be usually if not always horned, a condition 

 which rarely or never occurs in the Sardinian race. 



Genus CAPRA Linnaeus. 



1758. Gapra Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., i, 10th ed., p. 68 {hirctis, by tautonymy). 



1762. Hircus Brisson, Regu. Anim. in Classis ix distrib., 2nd ed., p. 12 



{Hircus Brisson = Capra hircus Linnaeus). 



1766. Ibex Pallas, Spicil. Zoologica, ii, fasc. 11, p. 31 (sibiricus). 



1795. Aries Link, Zool. Beytrage, i, pt. 2, p. 96 (Substitute for Capra). 



1798. Tragus Schrank, Fauna Boica, i, p. 80 (Substitute for Capra). 



1811. Mgoceros Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., i, p. 224. 



1857. Capra Blasius, Saugethiere Deutschlands, p. 474. 



Type species. — Capra hircus Linnaeus. 



Geographical distribution . — Mediterranean region of Europe 

 (Portugal, Spain, Pyrenees, Alps and Grecian Archipelago) east- 

 ward through the Caucasus, Asia Minor and north-eastern 

 Africa to central Asia. 



Characters. — Like Ovis externally but hind feet without 

 glands, males bearded, and horns never forming an outward or 

 inward spiral ; skull without lachrymal pit ; upper extremity of 

 premaxillary deeply wedged between nasal and maxillary ; 

 brain-case conspicuously convex above ; outer side of upper 

 premolars with terminal and median vertical ridges obsolete. 



Remarks. — About thirty-five species are currently referred to 

 the genus Capra. Half a dozen of these occur in the Mediter- 

 ranean region of Europe. 



