ON THE WILD GOATS OF GREECE 393 



islands would result in their being found in many other 

 places. (To undertake such examination is a project of mine, 

 perhaps not likely ever to be fulfilled.) These feral goats, 

 however, are distinguished as such even by the natives. 

 They are small, and carry small horns. The most casual 

 observer could not mistake them for a really wild breed 

 of goat. 



The original wild goat of Southern Greece, including 

 Crete, was certainly Cajpra cegagrus. This animal crosses 

 readily with the domestic goat (G. hircus), and the produce 

 is fertile. Thus the wild goats of Crete are cross-bred (in 

 places, at least), and specimens so cross-bred are to be seen 

 in the Bosnian Zooloo^ical Gardens at Ilidze. 



The results of cross-breeding can be well observed at 

 Antimilo. On my first visit to the island I assumed the 

 ibex there to be a pure breed, having been falsely informed 

 by the shepherds that there had never been any tame goats 

 on the island. Moreover, the buck I then shot was hardly 

 old enough for his horns to have any definite character; 

 and the second, which I obtained alive (as already related), 

 was distinctly C, cegagrus. By the light of more recent 

 information, and of my own observation on my second visit, 

 I am now of opinion that the original breed of ibex ((7. 

 cegagrus) on Antimilo has been crossed with the tame goat 

 (G. hircus) at a comparatively recent period, and that the 

 influence of the latter on the stock of animals now remain- 

 ing is very marked. It accounts, as I have already said, 

 for the black goats to be seen there, as well as for those 

 with white patches. Especially, however, is its effect marked 

 on the horns of the bucks, to which it gives an outward 

 twist at the tips. But it does not — and this is important — 

 alter the horn - cores nor the position of the sword - like 

 anterior edge of the horns at the skull. 



Moreover, the introduction of the domestic goat must have 

 been so recent there that the ibex type of horn frequently 

 persists in its original purity, as evidenced in the fine twenty- 

 seven-inch head obtained by Mr H. Toppin in November 

 1898, in which one horn curves in one plane and the other 

 turns in at the tip, and in a twenty-four-inch head obtained 

 by me in which one horn curves in one plane (though the 



