106 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



and that it had then spread 1 northward to British Columbia 

 and southern Alaska, and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. 

 Its whole distribution is thus confined to the north-western 

 United States and western Canada. <The term " goat " is really 

 a misnomer. It is not a true goat, nor yet a true antelope. 

 We might with more justification call it a " goat-antelope." 



In some respects it resembles the European chamois 

 (Rupicapra), in others the serow and goral (Nemorrhaedus) 

 and the takin (Budorcas) . The last three are confined to Asia, 

 and all of them, though generically distinct from the Rocky 

 Mountain goat, belong to the same group of goat-antelopes. 



A species of Nemorrhaedus occurs in the mountains of 

 Japan and northern China, and we might, with Dr. Brown, 

 be tempted to assume that Oreamnos has arisen in America 

 from some Pleistocene immigrant of the genus Nemor- 

 rhaedus.* But surely the genus Oreamnos, to which the 

 Rocky Mountain goat belongs, must be a very ancient one. 

 The peculiar discontinuous range of the whole group implies 

 antiquity. The remains of the mountain goat have Tbeen dis- 

 covered in Potter Creek Cave of California, while Mr. Cragin 

 is said to have described a fossil species of Nemorrhaedus 

 from the Pleistocene of Colorado. I have not been able to 

 trace the description or further particulars. At any rate, 

 the more remote origin of Oreamnos is shrouded in obscurity. 

 We certainly have no definite evidence that its ancestors came 

 from Asia in Pleistocene times. They probably reached the 

 continent much earlier. 



The Rocky Mountain goat occasionally falls a victim to the 

 cougar or puma, better known in the west as the " mountain 

 lion," which, like its prey, is a typically American animal. 

 From a distributional point of view it is one of the most 

 remarkable mammals, as it exceeds all others in the great 

 extent of its range. Its utter indifference to climatic condi- 

 tions is shown by its occurrence from southern Patagonia 

 right through the tropics to western Canada. It flourishes 

 from the plains of Florida to the regions of the permanent 

 snows in the Rockies and Andes. It is true that those who 

 take note of small differences no longer believe in one species 



* Brown, A. E., " North American Big Game," p. 75. 



