SOO MR. R. LYDEKKER ON • [NoV. 3 



rely mainly on the two pairs of horns (those of an old bull and of 

 .a subadult female) presented to the British Museum by Mr. J. 

 Claude White, C.M.Z.8., British Commissioner in Sikhim, which 

 form the type of this race. 



Befoi-e proceeding further, it may, however, be well to mention 

 that the Bhutan Takin, which lives high up on the mountains on 

 the open zone between the upper limit of forest and the snow- 

 line, is completely cut oft' by deep rivei'-gorges from the habitat 

 of its Mishmi representatative. On this ground alone it, 

 therefore, undoubtedly belongs to a separate race. 



As to the height attained by this race, I cannot, in the absence 

 of a mounted skin, give even an approximate estimate ; but I 

 believe it to be somewhat smaller than the typical Budorcas 

 taxicolor, althovigh its chief claim to distinction rests on the 

 relatively small size of its horns. 



The type horns of the old bull are somewhat worn at their 

 tips, as they also are at the base, where the rugosities have in 

 consequence disappeared. When entire, they would probably 

 have measured about 15 or 16 inches in length along the front 

 curve, as against from 20 to 24 inches in adult bulls of the 

 Mishmi Takin. The horns of a younger bull, associated with 

 one of the skins referred to above, measured 13 inches, against 

 18 inches in horns of a Mishmi bull of about the same age. 

 Horns of cows ai'e much smaller. Similai- charactei^s ai'e shown 

 by the horns of the skull here figured (text-fig. 170, p. 799), which 

 was sent to the Museum by Mr. White. 



I have been hitherto unable to institute an exact comparison 

 between the skins of the Mishmi and the Bhutan Takin, but I 

 think the latter has a somewhat smaller lighter dorsal saddle than 

 the former. Both agree in their general dark colour, and in the 

 under-parts being dai-ker than the back, as well as in the large 

 extent of black on the head, and the extension of the dorsal stripe 

 to the occiput. 



In this place it may be mentioned that the skull of a, large 

 ruminant from the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, N.E. India, 

 described by the late Professor L. Riitimeyer (by whom it was 

 regarded as probably indicating a hornless species) as Buccq^ra 

 daviesi, appears to represent an animal nearly related to the 

 Takin. Certain details in the form of the skull, as well as of 

 the teeth, seem, however, to indicate the generic distinctness of 

 Buccqyra from Budorcas. I have little doubt that, when entire, 

 the Siwalik skull carried horn-cores of a type approximating 

 more or less closely to those of the Takin. 



Since the above was written the Museum has received from 

 Mr. J. W. Brooke, skins, skeletons, and skulls of Takin of both 

 sexes and of several ages from Sze-chuen, where the animals were 

 killed in rhododendron and bamboo jungle at an elevation of 

 about 10,000 feet. The skulls and skins include those of a fully 



