Vol. 57.] PANTHOLOPS HFNDESIENSIS. 289 



20. On the Skull of a Chiru-like Antelope /rom the Ossiferotjs 

 Deposits of Hundes (Tibet). By Richard Lydekker, Esq. 

 (Read May 22nd, 1901.) 



Exactly twenty years ago I proposed^ the provisional name of 

 Paniliolops hundesiensis for an extinct species of antelope, typified 

 by an imperfect skull figured in J. F. Eoyle's ' Illustrations of 

 the Botany, &c. of the Himalayan Mountains ' 1839, pi. iii, fig. 1. 

 I had only the figure to go by, as the paper was written in India, 

 and the specimen was said to be in the Collection of the Geological 

 Society of London. And till the other day, when my attention was 

 called to it by Mr. C. D. Sherborn, I had never seen the specimen. 

 Having, by the kind permission of the Council, obtained the loan 

 of this skull, I am happy to say that my original determination 

 is in the main confirmed by actual examination of the specimen. 

 And since the fossil is of more than ordinary interest, and the 

 original figure is highly unsatisfactory, I have thought it desirable 

 to offer the present note to the Society. 



The specimen was obtained by Messrs. Webb & Trail from 

 Tibetan traders, by whom it was brought from the Hundes plain, 

 on the far side of the Niti Pass ; and it was presented to the Society 

 by Capt. Webb. 



The skull in its present condition comprises the bvain-case in a 

 fairly perfect state, although lacking the edge of the frontal portion 

 of the orbits. The right horn-core is broken off obliquely a short 

 distance above the pedicle, while the second has been broken through 

 the pedicle itself, showing the basal sinus. Mineralogically, the 

 specimen is in much the same condition as Siwalik fossils from the 

 Eastern sub -Himalaya. 



I cannot find that the skull bears any resemblance to that of any 

 genus of African antelope. As regards Indo-Tibetan forms, it is 

 quite distinct from Nemorhaidus and Urotragvs, having an elliptical 

 instead of nearly circular cross-section to the horn-cores ; and it is 

 equally distinct from Gazella, as is shown by the absence of large 

 pits round the frontal foramina. 



On the other hand, although of rather smaller dimensions, it 

 comes very close to the skull of the existing chiru {Pantholops 

 Hodgsoni) of Tibet in general characters. This is shown by the 

 general form of the brain -case, and especially by the strong ridges 

 marking the upper limits of the temporal fossae, and the contour of 

 the occipital surface. The frontal foramina are likewise simple 

 perforations in the bone, ^dthout any expansion into pits. The 

 upper portion of the nasals still remains, and shows that these 

 bones occupied the same relative position as in the recent form, 

 extending upwards in both as far as the lachrymo-frontal suture. 



1 Eec. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xiv (1881) p. 180. 



