12 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



appears to be fixed in both the summer and winter pelage, as 

 the markings were found on the skins of goats killed both in 

 July and November. Reports of goat with these characters are 

 widespread along the upper Columbia River, so that it would 

 seem as though toward the southern limit of its range, a color 

 variation were just beginning to appear. In addition to its uni- 

 formly white color, Oreamnos differs from the serow in the promi- 

 nence of its eye sockets, in the elongated shape of the muzzle 

 and face, in the position and shape of the horns and more par- 

 ticularly in the cannon bones, which are exceptionally short and 

 stout. In this latter respect Oreamnos departs widely from all 

 the other members of the Rupicaprince. The most striking char- 

 acter however, of Oreamnos, is the presence, situated in a half 

 circle immediately behind each horn, of a large, black scent- 

 gland, as large as half an orange. This gland is sometimes so 

 tough as to wear deeply into the base of the horn. A horn 

 worn away in this manner was secured by the writer in British 

 Columbia. 



The comparatively short duration of time since the appearance 

 of Oreamnos in America and the somewhat uniform character 

 of its habitat, probably account for the absence of much type 

 variation. 



TYPES OF OREAMNOS. 



The first specimens of the mountain goat to be described, came 

 from the Cascade Mountains on the Columbia River in Oregon 

 and of course now stand as the type of Oreamnos montanus, hav- 

 ing been first described by Rafinesque in 1817. This subspecies is 

 intermediate in size between the eastern form of American goat, 

 O.m.missonlce, and the large Canadian O.m.columbianus, and, is 

 characterized by a short but broad skull. The true Oreamnos 

 montanus extends from about the Canadian boundary, south 

 through Washington into Oregon. In the '70*5 a considerable 

 number were found on Mt. Ranier in Washington, and they still 

 occur on Mt. Baker to the northward. It is absent, however, 

 from the Olympic Mountains, from Vancouver Island and from 

 the southern Cascades in Oregon. Nothing is known of the 

 northern limits of this subspecies, but it probably does not extend 

 very far into British Columbia, merging at that point into O.tn. 

 columbianus. The most southerly Oregon records that the writer 

 has been able to obtain is Mt. Jefferson in that State, latitude 

 44 40' north, in approximately the same latitude as the Sawtooth 

 Mountains in Idaho. 



