ORDER RUMINANTIA. 197 



twenty-six Inches long, black, slender, annulated with rings, 

 most prominent towards the front, and extending three- 

 fourths up the horn, the rest smooth and pointed ; they are 

 seated on the crest of the frontals, parallel to the plane of 

 the face, close at base, divergent ; their general direction 

 between straight and lyrate, and the tips turned forward ; 

 the head is ten inches long, seemingly without lachrymary 

 sinus, and without a moist muzzle ; the ears are short ; 

 the neck, compared with the body, very long, if at least this 

 seeming disproportion be not the result of overstretching 

 that part ; the fore-legs and withers are lower than the 

 <iroup ; the tail is eight inches long, and shaped as in the 

 Axis; the hair of the animal is rough and very thick, but 

 not quite so hard or long as in the Musk, with much of 

 the same quill-like character : it conceals a fleece of fine 

 soft wool, set very close, and pressed against the skin : the 

 colour of the face and legs is dark, nearly black ; the neck, 

 back, and sides, blue-gray slate colour, turning to rufous 

 on the back ; the belly, inside of the thighs, and tail, are 

 whitish ; the distinctive characters of the female are un- 

 known. 



We have here another instance of wool on the skin of an 

 antilopine species ; a character not only perfectly consis- 

 tent, but of necessity, when the animal resides in high la- 

 titudes, or on high mountains : thus a similar cause pro- 

 duces a similar effect upon the A. Lanigera of North 

 America, the Chiru of Central Asia, and, indeed, on the 

 Chamois of Europe. This wool is so abundant, that in the 

 notice sent from Katmandoo*, it is described as perfectly 

 similar to that of the Wild Sheep of Bhote. It is probable 

 that the residence of this animal in the same regions, and 

 sometimes in company with the Thibetan Musk, led the 



* A MS. extract, for which I am obliged to J. E. Gray, Esq., of 

 the British Museum. 



