248 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON CAPRA .EGAGRUS. [May 5, 



at first supposed it might be referred to C. papuanus ; but, judging 

 from the description of this species given by Schlegel (I. s. c), such 

 could not be the case. He had therefore designated it Oasuarius 

 westermanni, after the distinguished Director of the Zoological 

 Gardens at Amsterdam, through whom the Society had received 

 their unique specimen. 



Mr. Sclater announced that H,M. Government had acceded to 

 the request of the Royal Society to send out a naturalist to 

 Kerguelen's Land to accompany the astronomical expedition to that 

 island for the observation of the transit of Venus, and that the Rev. 

 A. E. Eaton had been selected for the post. 



Mr. W. T. Blanford exhibited some horns of the wild Goat of 

 Persia (Capra cegagrus), and also for comparison two pairs belonging 

 to the same animal from Sind, lent by Mr. E. Ward. He pointed 

 out that these were identical, and that it appeared probable that the 

 wild Goat of Northern Persia, Asia Minor, and Crete was the same 

 as that of Southern Persia and Sind ; but hitherto he had been 

 unable to compare heads. Of the Persian horns exhibited, all of 

 which had been collected by Major St. John, R.E., one pair was 

 from Shiraz, and the remainder, two pairs and an odd born, from 

 Isfahan. Compared with the figure of C. cegagrus in Blasius's 

 * Wirbelthiere Europa's,' the only perceptible difference was that the 

 horns there figured were rather more curved inwards towards the 

 points. These latter horns were probably from Asia Minor or the 

 Caucasus ; but no locality was assigned. 



The Goat of Northern Persia was undoubtedly the Mgagrus of 

 Pallas, Capra cegagrus of Schreber. An earlier name perhaps was 

 Capra bezoartica of Linnaeus ; but it was impossible to identify the 

 Persian "Wild Goat, or any other known Persian ruminant, with 

 Linnseus's description, " cornibus teretibus arcuatis totis annulatis, 

 gula barbata." The description of the bearded throat alone agreed 

 with that of the Persian Wild Goat ; the account of the round, 

 arcuate, and annulate horns must have been taken from some other 

 ruminant, probably from the Persian Gazelle. But the name bezo- 

 artica was probably intended to apply to C. cegagrus, from which 

 the true bezoar, so widely famed in mediaeval times as an antidote to 

 poison, was obtained. Bezoars, it was true, occurred in the stomachs 

 of many ruminants ; but those obtained occasionally from the Persian 

 Wild Goat long enjoyed a surprising and superstitious reputation, 

 which still exists amongst the Persians, who consider these calcareous 

 secretions a kind of universal remedy. 



The name of Antilope bezoartica had been incorrectly applied 

 by several naturalists to the Common Indian Antelope, the proper 

 name for which was Antilope cervicapra (Linn.), it being the Capra 

 cervicapra of Linnaeus. 



The following papers were read 



