105 



September 10, 1833. 

 N. A. Vigors, Esq., in the Chair. 



A letter was read, addressed to Mr. Vigors by B. H. Hodgson, 

 Esq., Corr. Memb. Z. S., and dated Nepal Residency, February 23, 

 1833. It referred to the zoological specimens which the writer had 

 forvvarded to Calcutta, to be thence transmitted to England, some 

 account of which, as contained in a letter from Mr. Prinsep, was 

 read at the lašt Meeting. 



Referring to his 'Catalogue of the Maramalia of Nepal,' pub- 

 lished in the * Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta,' Mr. 

 Hodgson States that he has since ascertained, by living specimens, 

 the existence of two kinds o( rvild Sheep in the Himalayan Region, 

 — one a variety of Ovis Ammon, the other of Ovis Musmon. The 

 native name of the forraer is Ban-hhera, literally idld Sheep ; that 

 of the latter is Nayour or Na'koor. The Nayour is described by 

 Mr. Hodgson in the forthcoming volume of the Transactions of the 

 Calcutta Society; as is also the n-ildGaat, the local name of vvhich 

 is Jhdral. This is truly a Goat, and is a variety of Capra Mga- 

 grus, agreeing in its horns with the Alpine race: its head is closely 

 shorn on all parts, and there is no vestige of a beard : there is, 

 hovvever, a copious flowing leonine mane, covering the whole neck 

 and shoulders. 



The Jhdral is not to be confounded with the Ghoral (not Goral), 

 the latter being truly an Antelope -. its horns are cylindrical, while 

 those of the Jhdral are angular ; the latter is at first sight distin- 

 guished by the large flowing mane just alluded to, of which there is 

 no vestige in the Ghoral. As compared with the Ghoral, Antilope 

 Goral, Hardw., — which is a small agile creature, vvithout suborbital 

 sinuses, (as Mr. Hodgson has ascertained by the examination of 

 three living individuals,) and without mane, — the Thdr is a massive 

 beast, twice the size, and has suborbital sinuses, and a mane along 

 the back of the neck and shoulders, as described in a communica- 

 tion made by the writer to the Society, and published in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence,' Part II. 

 p. 12. For the name oi Ant. bubalina, then employed by him, Mr. 

 Hodgson now proposes to substitute that of Ant. Thar ; and statės 

 his intention of forvvarding to the Society a detailed account of it, 

 of the Ghoral, of the Goat, and of the wild Sheep of Himalaya. 



Mr. Hodgson adds, that the royal Tiger is found in the centrai 

 region of Nepal : he has a living specimen, which was taken in the 

 latitude of Vully. 



The Secretary called the attention of the Society to several re- 

 cent acquisitions to the Menagerie; including a specimen of the red- 

 No. IX. Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



