ON THE ANATOMY OF THE TAKIN. 303 



13. Some Points in the An<atomj of the Takin {Biulorcas 

 taxicolor ivhitei). Based on the examination of a 

 specimen in the Gardens of the Zoological Society ot" 

 London. By Miss Kathleen F. LandeKj M.Sc, 

 F.Z.S. (Hon. Acting Prosector to the Society). 



[Received May 13, 1919 : Read May 27, 1919.] 

 (Plate I.* and Text-fignres 1-7.) 



The animal in question was a male fi-om North-west Bhutan, 

 which was presented to the Zoological Society of Loudon on 

 June 22nd, 1909, and died in the Gardens on May 7th, 1918. 



Unfoi^tunately at that time it was impo.s.sible for any full 

 examination of the anatomy to be made ; a few notes were taken 

 of the parts too large for pi'eservation and some of the smaller 

 organs were preserved in formalin. The account here given is, 

 therefore, very incomplete, but may serve for comparison when 

 next a Takin is available for examination. 



Hodgson, when giving the first description of this animal, 

 considered that its nearest affinity was with the Gnus, but that 

 it would probably be placed between the Gnus and Musk Oxen in 

 a classificatory sclieme. Matschie created the group Ovibovince. 

 for Budorcas and Ovihos as a result of examination of tlie 

 external characters, skull and metacarpus, and these two animals 

 have usually been regarded as closely allied. Dr. Chalmers 

 Mitchell has pointed out that they have in common the curious 

 formation of the naso-froutal suture. In them a triangular 

 process of the frontal tits deeply between the triangular proximal 

 ends of the nasal bones, whereas in the majority of Ruminants 

 the nasal bones project into the frontal area without divarication. 



The Goral and Serow [Nemorha'dus gored and Capricornis 

 huhcdinus) have also been grouped with the Chamois {liupvicapra 

 tragus) and Kocky-Mountain Goat {Ilaploceros montamts) to foiin 

 the Rapricaprine Section of the Bovida^, and in some of the skull 

 characters the Goral approaches the Takin as much as anything. 



So far as I am aware no account has yet been given of the . 

 anatomy of the soft parts of the Rupricaprine section. Various 

 anatomists have published accounts of the anatomy of the other 

 Ungulata with which Budorcas has at one time or another been 

 compared. In particular, the papers by Lonnberg on Ovihos and 

 Connochcetes have been consulted for comparative jiurposes, 



Mr. R. I. Pocock recorded the external characters of the Takin 

 described in this jjfiper, both before and after death. In order to 

 render this account as complete as possible I quote verbatim his 

 observations published in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History ' (6) :— 



''• The rhinarium is continued inferiorly to the edge of the 



* For exijlanation of tlie Piute see pp. 204-6, 



14* 



