ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 607 



In the typical subspecies "the dorsal line appears considerably 

 broadened on the withers, ... in old specimens . . . coming down- 

 wards to coalesce with the black of the fore limbs." Length of horn 

 on outside curve up to 1020 mm. (Cabrera, 1911, pp. 967, 974.) 

 Height at shoulder, 2 feet 8 inches (Schinz, 1838, p. 15). 



"There are . . . strong reasons for believing that in the past 

 Ibexes [C. pyrenaica subspp.] inhabited every suitable point of 

 almost every mountain ridge in Spain." The typical subspecies 

 occupied the "Pyrenean area, comprising the Spanish side of the 

 Pyrenees and, in former times, the eastern part of the Cantabrian 

 chain." (Cabrera, 1911, pp. 964-966, map.) 



In 1838 it was said to be no longer present in the French Pyrenees, 

 but only on the Spanish side. It was then known to the Toulouse 

 botanist, Moquin Tandon, from only a single locality, near the Ma- 

 ladetta Pass, and even there it was very rare and difficult to obtain, 

 so that its early extinction was feared. However, during the pre- 

 ceding year five specimens reached various museums. (Schinz, 

 1838, pp. 16-18.) 



"This animal does not now occur anywhere in the Cantabrian 

 range .... In the Cuevo de la Mora ... we found a quantity 

 of bones which are referable to this Spanish Wild Goat. The former 

 existence of this species in the Cantabrian range is therefore proved, 

 and its absence nowadays is probably due to extermination." 

 (Gadow, 1897, pp. 372-373.) 



In 1908 Gourdon wrote (pp. 4-10) that the massif of Maladeta, 

 in Huesca, was formerly a favored resort for the Ibex, but not one 

 had been recorded for 15 or 20 years previously. One was killed 

 there by an avalanche in 1876. The Val d'Arras (or Ordesa Valley) , 

 on the French side of the massif of Mont Perdido, in the Hautes 

 Pyrenees, was expected to be the last resort of this Ibex. Sir Victor 

 Brooke killed one there in 1878 and another in 1879. Some years 

 later he estimated that 40 head remained on the precipices of Arras. 

 As late as 1907 one or two were killed there annually. 



"It may be considered as practically extinct, being today found 

 only in the northern extreme of the Huesca Province, about the 

 Mount Perdido. Two old bucks, three females, and three or four 

 half-grown individuals remained there in 1907. In a recent letter 

 . . . the Count of San Juan . . . informs me: 'I think that prob- 

 ably no more than ten or twelve Ibexes remain in all the Pyrenean 

 chain. A pair survived recently in the Maladeta; somebody shot 

 the female, and the male sought refuge among a herd of domestic 

 Goats and was subsequently killed by the goatherd.' " (Cabrera, 

 19116, p. 966.) 



In the fourteenth century this Ibex abounded on both slopes of 

 the Pyrenees. Now, of all the mammals of the Iberian fauna, it 



