ORDER RUMINANTIA. 281 



lower jaw, and gullet, pure white; there is also a small 

 lachrymary opening before the eye. This circumstance if 

 correct, and the want of a heavier fur, indicate that the 

 species does not elevate itself beyond the secondary ranges 

 of the mountains. 



The Rupicaprine Group. 



Of this group, receding still more from the Antilopine 

 type, one species only is known, though its varieties range 

 over a very large extent of country, being found in the 

 Caucasian Mountains, the Demavend range of Persia, the 

 Alps, and the Pyrenees. Its principal distinctive characters 

 reside in the horns, which are vertical to the plane of the 

 face, posteriorly uncinated, round, longitudinally striated, 

 and dark brown in colour : behind the horns, on the pos- 

 terior part of the head, are two small apertures, the use of 

 which is not ascertained. The limbs are strong and re- 

 semble those of goats ; the hair rather long, especially in 

 winter, and a dark streak passes through the eyes from 

 near the horns, towards the mouth ; the tail is short. Both 

 sexes are provided with horns, and the females have two 

 mammae ; they have neither suborbital sinus, nor tufts on 

 the knees, but in common with the true Antelopes, they 

 possess inguinal pores, and the ovine form of the nostrils. 

 Although this group is usually considered as most remote 

 from the type of the genus, we find no signs to separate 

 them more decisive than may be observed in the Klip- 

 springer, the Chickara, the Chiru, the Prong-horned, or the 

 Cambing Ootan. 



The Chamois. {A. Rupicapra.) This animal, in its ex- 

 ternal appearance, bears a great similarity to the Goat, es- 

 pecially during the cold seasons, when the hair is longest. 

 It is in stature about equal to the Roebuck, but more cor- 

 pulent and massy in its proportions ; the head resembles a 

 goat's with the nostrils more pointed and forward ; the face 



Vol. IV. u 



