640 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Tonkin Serow 



CAPRICORNIS MARITIMTJS Heude 



Clapricornis] maritimus Heude, Mem. Hist. Nat. Empire Chinois, vol. 2, 

 p. 4, footnote, 1888. ("Les rochers de la baie d'Along, au Tonquin," French 

 Indo-China.) 



FIGS.: Heude, 1894, pi. 32, figs. 1-8. 



This Serow has virtually disappeared from the coast of Tonkin 

 and Annam. In Laos Serows of undetermined identity, but possibly 

 belonging to this form, are represented by a small but almost un- 

 known stock. 1 



According to Heude's inadequate description (op. cit., p. 4, and 

 1894, p. 227), C. maritimus is a brownish animal, smaller than C. s. 

 argyrochaetes. The horns are flattened transversely at the base, and 

 laterally in the distal half ; they converge slightly at the tips. 



Information on the range and numbers of this Serow, as well as on 

 its taxonomic status, is very meager. 



Andre Kieffer writes (in litt., November 21, 1936) as follows: 

 "Thirty-five years ago, when I first arrived in Indo-China, Serows 

 were widely distributed on the isles and promontories of the littoral 

 of the China Sea, from the Bay of Along on the north to southern 

 Annam (Cape Varela). I have seen this animal decrease with an 

 extraordinary rapidity. It was hunted under the name of 'Mouflon.' 

 An island in the Bay of Tourane had received the name of "lie aux 

 Mouflons.' Nothing was easier than drives in an area as restricted 

 as the coastal islands of Annam. Fifteen years ago I could not find 

 a trace of 'Mouflons' on the island of Cac-Ba (Bay of Along) , where 

 they formerly abounded. I consider that there is not a single indi- 

 vidual left in French Indo-China, save perhaps in the mountainous 

 regions bordering Burma and Yunnan." 



P. Vitry writes (in Hit., December, 1936) of an animal (evidently 

 a Serow) called "Nhuang" by the natives throughout Laos. He has 

 seen specimens in the upper Nam-ou on the upper Mekong, at 

 Saravane in 1910-12, at Pakse on several occasions, and has killed 

 three himself in 1932-33 south of Saravane; these were all of the 

 same species. Two specimens were sent to the Paris Museum. The 

 animal ranges throughout Laos, but occurs only in wooded ravines 

 with dense undergrowth and on steep mountain slopes with sufficient 

 shade and water. M. Vitry formerly considered it very rare, but 

 now believes that the total stock in the country must be more than 

 200. However, the animal is very seldom seen; for example, only 

 three out of more than a hundred inhabitants of a village, close 

 to which his first specimen was killed, had ever seen the species 



i Heude has applied several additional names to the Serows of Indo-China 

 (cf. Lydekker, 1913c, vol. 1, p. 202). 



