16 W. T. Blanford — On the Scientific Names of [No. 1, 



I now turn to the Markhor. The first description of this animal was 

 given by Wagner, under the name of JEgoceros {Gapra) Falconeri, Hugel, 

 and I may here remark that this name, given in honour of one of the most 

 eminent of Indian naturalists, must be adopted for this wild goat, as it has 

 priority by 3 years over Hutton's name Gapra megaceros ; "Wagner's descrip- 

 tion having appeared in 1839 in the '■ Gelehrte Anzeigen' of Munich. The 

 skin and horns described were obtained by Freiherr v. Hugel from Kashmir. 

 The animal was figured and again described in Wagner's appendix to 

 Huo-el's Kashmir, and both figure and description were repeated in the" 

 snpplement to Schreber's Saugethiere by the same author. The references 

 are given at full in the synonymy below. The horns of the typical specimen 

 have an unusually open spiral curve.* » 



Captain Hutton in 1842, described the ' Markhore' or the ' Snake- 

 eater' of the Afghans, under the name of Gapra megaceros, in the Calcutta 

 Journal of Natural History, and gave a figure of the skull and horns. The 

 form here figured is the Afghan variety, in which the spiral is so slight 

 that the horns approach a straight line. This is the race for which Mr. 

 Hume has proposed the name of G. Jerdoni,] but it is clear that if this 

 animal be considered specifically distinct from the Kashmir G. Falconeri, 

 Hutton's name must be retained for it. The same name G. megaceros was 

 subsequently given by Cunningham in 1854, (Ladak p. 200), to the 

 Kashmir form, but the author was under the impression that the animal 

 was undescribed, and was unacquainted with either Hugel's or Hutton's 

 name. 



The most important question, however, is whether the Kashmir and 

 Suliman forms of the Markhor are specifically distinct. At first it appears 

 difficult to believe that animals belonging to the same species have in some 

 instances horns with the open spiral of a corkscrew, and in others straight 

 horns with only a deep spiral groove. As Mr. Blyth justly says J, the horns 

 vary in curve as much as those of the Koodoo do from those of the Impoofo 

 (or Eland). But on the other hand it should be remembered not only that 

 both forms of horns have long been perfectly well known to naturalists, but 



* So different are these horns from those of most Markhor, that some naturalists 

 have supposed them to have been obtained from a tame goat. But as has been shewn 

 by Blyth, the spiral in tame goats is always reversed, the anterior ridge just above the 

 forehead turning inwards or towards the other horn at first. In the Markhor this 

 ridge turns outwards. Judged by this test "Wagner's figure represents a wild Markhor 

 and not a game goat. I have never myself seen Markhor horns with so open a spiral 

 as those of Hugel's type of 0. Falconeri. 



f It is probable that Mr. Hume's specimens may have been less spiral in form than 

 Hutton's type, for the former are described as resembling an ordinary screw. But as 

 I shall shew, the precise form of the horns varies greatly. 



t P. Z. S. 1840, p. 80. 



