452 M. H. Dinnik on the Caucasian 



The first notice of this goat is by Giildensteclt, published 

 after liis decease by PaUas in the ' Acta AcademiiB Petro- 

 politana?.' No other naturalist has written upon it, so that to 

 the present day it has remained almost unknown *. Not a 

 single stuffed specimen of it is to be found in any collection ; 

 the museum of the Academy of Sciences only contained one 

 pair of its horns until, at the request of M. A. A. Strauch, I 

 supplied a second pair, while I sent a head in a somewhat 

 damaged condition with horns to the St. Petersburg Society 

 of Naturalists. 



Cajyra cancasica, Giild., is a graceful, handsome, and very 

 powerful animal. Its head is narrow and not large, the nose 

 straiglit, ears narrow and long, eyes of medium size, without 

 lachrymal ducts^ neck short and very strong, body massive ; 

 feet comparatively thick, very hard, and furnished with hoofs 

 admirably adapted for climbing. The fur is mixed with down. 

 The general appearance of the animal impresses one with its 

 strength and endurance. This goat is commonly called ^'^f^w- 

 tur by the natives (Karachaieftsi) in whose country it is 

 found, and by Russians hir. 



A full-grown male has horns black or almost black in 

 colour, set so close together at the base as almost to touch ; 

 their curve is regular, much less than half a circle, and inclined 

 in one plane. In some cases, however, there is a slight 

 deflection to one side. From the head the horns rise upwards 

 and outwards, then backwards and outwards, and finally 

 downwards. Their tips do not approach one another or only 

 slightly ; their distance apart is therefore great. In one skull 

 in my collection this distance is nearly 3 feet, while the 

 average-sized horns of Cajjra Fallasii also in my collection 

 are only 11 inches apart at the tips. The transverse section 

 at the base of the horn is triangular, with very blunted corners, 

 and therefore more or less circular. The circumference of 

 the horns at the base is in the case of old males 11 to 12 

 inches, the diameter about 3^ inches or a little over; the 

 length along the anterior surface is from 23 to 32 inches. It 

 is very probable that there are specimens with larger horns. 

 The exterior of the horn is intersected with numerous trans- 

 verse wrinkles or furrows in irregular rings, zigzag fashion. 

 On the front surface there are small but more or less conspi- 

 cuous nodules. The substance of the horn is invariably 

 black, while its surface takes a variety of shades of black, 

 brown, and dirty green. The horns of the females are so 

 small as hardly to exceed the length of the ears ; they 



* Pallas says in his ' Zoographia ' (p. 2i29) very little about it. A more 

 complete description will be found in Acta Acad. Petr. iii. pp. 273-281. 



