312 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



rose, and a formidable mountain range took the place 

 of a hilly island, the whole fauna was lifted up 

 and transferred to entirely different conditions. A 

 modification of their structure to suit the new sur- 

 roundings was therefore to be anticipated, and that is 

 exactly what occurred, though not in all cases. 



Take, for example, the goats which are of Asiatic 

 origin. Every one has heard of the " Steinbock," the 

 Alpine mountain goat (Capra ibex) though very few 

 have seen it in its native haunts, where it is now on 

 the verge of extinction. A closely allied species 

 (Capra sibirica) inhabits the Altai' and Himalayan 

 Mountains; a third species (Capra sinaitica) lives in 

 Palestine, and has entered Egypt by way of the 

 Sinaitic peninsula. Another (C. cegagrus) occurs in 

 Asia Minor, Persia, the island of Crete, and some of 

 the Cyclades. This exemplifies what I remarked in the 

 last chapter about ihe former land-connection between 

 Greece and the Asiatic continent. Finally, we have 

 the Pyrenean Goat (Capra pyrenaica\ which is found 

 in the Pyrenees, the higher ranges of Central Spain, 

 in Andalusia, and Portugal, thus indicating that it 

 probably reached the Spanish peninsula from the 

 south by means of the old Sicilo-Algerian highway, 

 especially as remains of the species occur in the 

 cave deposits of Gibraltar. The ancestors of the 

 goat-like Antelope known as the Chamois (Rupicapra 

 tragus] no doubt also came from Asia. The genus is 

 not represented there, but Nemorhcedus and Budorcas 

 are allied Asiatic genera, while the Rocky Mountain 



