106 



these genera is so wide as to aftord no confirmation of the correct- 

 ness of this approximation. 



A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary hy B. H. Hodgson, 

 Esq., Corr. Memb. Z.S., and dated Nepal, March 4, 1834. 



It commences by remarking on the difficulty experienced by Zo- 

 ologists in the determination of distinctive marks adequate for the 

 separation of the genera Antilope, Capra, and Ovis ; and then 

 refers to the instances in which the writer has shown that the cha- 

 racter of Antilope founded on the presumed absence of cavities in 

 the cores of the horns connected with the frontal sinuses is incorrect. 

 The value of the characters which are generally admitted by authors 

 as distinguishing between the genera Capra and Ovis may, he con- 

 ceives, be tested by a comparison of the wild race of either genus 

 which belongs to the Himalaya. 



" For the last year," Mr. Hodgson proceeds, " I have had alive in 

 my garden a splendid specimen of the mature male of each ; and 

 I have frequently compared them together in all respects of manners 

 and of structure. As the Goat in question, as well as the Sheep, is 

 new, I will begin with a synoptical description of the two, and then 

 proceed to notice the points of diiFerence and of agreement existing 

 between them. 



Tribe CAPRiDiE, H. Smith. 



Genus Capra, Linn. 



Species Capra Jhdral. — The Jhdral of the Nepalese. 



" Affined to the Alpine ^gagri and to Capra Jemlaica. Adult male 

 50 inches long from snout to rump, and 33 high. Head finely 

 formed and full of beauty and expression, clad in close short hair, 

 and without the least vestige of a beard. Facial line straight. Ears 

 small, narrow, erect, rounded at the tips, and striated. Eye lively. 

 Between the nares a black moist skin. Nares themselves short and 

 wide. Knees and sternum callous. Tail short, depressed, wholly 

 nude below. Animal of compact powerful make, with a sparish, 

 short, and bowed neck ; deep barrel and chest ; longish, very strong, 

 and rigid limbs, supported on perpendicular pasterns, and high com- 

 pact hoofs : false hoofs conic and considerably developed. Attitude 

 of rest gathered and firm, with the head moderately raised, and the 

 back sub-arched. Shoulders decidedly higher than the croup. Fore 

 quarters superb, and wholly invested in a long, flowing, straight, 

 lion-like mane, somewhat feathered vertically from the crown of the 

 withers, and sweeping down below the knees. Hind quarters poor 

 and porcine, much sloped off from the croup to the tail, and the 

 skinmuch constricted between the hams behind. Fur of two sorts: the 

 outer, hair of moderate, harshness, neither wiry nor brittle, straight, 

 and applied to the skin, but erigible under excitement, and of un- 

 equal lengths and colours ; the inner, soft and woolly, as abundant 

 as in the Wild Sheep and finer, of one length and colour. Horns 

 9 inches long, inserted obliquely on the crest of the firontals, and 

 touching at the base with their anterior edges ; subcompressed. 



