THE SPANISH IBEX. 



971 



and Buck* assert that " examples from the two outside extremes 

 (Pyrenees and Nevada) most closely assimilate in their flattened 

 and compressed form of horn." If by this a lateral compression 

 is to be understood, my own experience beai-s out this statement ; 

 but if we must understand that the individual horn in the 

 Pyrenean and Mediterranean races is flatter from front to behind 

 than in the Gredos subspecies, on careful inspection I cannot agree 

 with the above-quoted authors. The only reliable method for 



Text-fiff. 197. 



Cvoss-sections of left honis of the Gredos Ibex (X 1). 



A. Madrid Museum. Type. 



B. Madrid Museum, No. 41-7. 



(In this and the two following figures the sections represent the horn as 

 being seen from the tip, the front face appearing above and tlie inner keel to the 

 right side.) 



investigating the true differences, and the one I have followed 

 with every specimen examined, consists in the taking of a cross- 

 section of the horn about the middle of its length. This section 

 is pear-shaped, and somewhat variable even in specimens from the 

 same locality ; but in each subspecies it is always easily referable 

 to a peculiar type. Now, in the Gredos Ibex (text-fig. 197) it is 



* ' Unexplored Spain,' p. 111. 



