ORDER RUMINANTIA. 309 



the bones of the head are exceedingly solid and ponderous, 

 without a void space on each side of the nasal bones, as is 

 the case in the Caucasian and iEgagrus species. The hair 

 of the face and legs is short, marked with a dark earthy- 

 coloured streak down the chaffron ; that of the neck and 

 back is very abundant, long and loose with a streak of the 

 same dark sepia colour down the ridge of the spine ; the 

 tail is very short ; on the sides of the cheeks, the hair is 

 exceedingly long and coarse, hanging like a lion's mane on 

 each side of the head, and feathering vertically also upon 

 the shoulders; excepting the dark streaks before men- 

 tioned, and a darkish line on the anterior part of the legs, 

 the whole animal is of a dirty whitish-fawn, with a few 

 locks of brown interspersed. It has no true beard, and the 

 limbs are remarkably robust. 



This species is said to inhabit the district of Jemlah, be- 

 tween the sources of the Sargew and Sampoo ; that is the 

 most elevated range of Central Asia, forming the nucleus 

 between the western and south-eastern branches of the 

 Himalayan Mountains. It may therefore represent the 

 Ibex in the most lofty ridges of the East, beyond the Bur- 

 rampooter, and extend into China. The Capricorn of 

 Buffon seems to have been an accidental variety, no satis- 

 factory description being given of the animal. It might 

 have been preferable to transfer that name to the present 

 species, if the species could have been identified. Had the 

 Jemlah and its native regions been known to a celebrated 

 philosopher of France, he would no doubt have adduced it 

 as a new proof in support of his opinion, that the Egyptian 

 Zodiac was originally derived from a nation residing under 

 or near the forty-third degree of north latitude, or in Cen- 

 tral Asia, and marked its short horns as the true type of 

 the original Capricorn. At this moment we have a Birman 

 Zodiac, chased in silver before us, where the Capricorn is 



