MAMMALIA 117 



have been domesticated from prehistoric times, as to that of most 

 other farm-animals. 



(3) Goais agree with sheep in many respects, but in typical 

 cases are distinguished by the concavity of the face, peculiar hard 

 patches on the knees, absence of glandular pits below the eye, and 

 lack of hoof-glands in the hind-feet. The male is characterized 

 by a peculiarly unpleasant odour, strong backwardly-curved horns, 

 ■often with a corrugated surface, and a tuft of hair on the chin. 

 The group is essentially characteristic of the mountainous axis of 

 the Old World, from Spain eastwards to Thibet and North China, 

 but outlying species occur in South India, Africa, and North 

 America. The species known as the Bezoar Goat or Grecian 

 Ibex {Copra cegagra), which ranges from some of the Greek 

 islands eastwards to Persia, where it is called the pasang, is 

 interesting as being probably the chief stock from which the 

 Domestic Goat {Capra hired) is derived. Goats are known to 

 have been tamed from very early times, and Homer, in describing 

 those of the Cyclops, was no doubt alluding to this particular 

 species, which formerly had a much wider range in Greece. 



Among other species may be mentioned the Spanish Ibex or 

 Wild Goat (Capra Pyrenaica), the almost extinct Alpine Ibex 

 {C. ibex), the Himalayan Ibex (C Sibirica), and the Arabian 

 Ibex (C Sinaitica). The solitary American species is the Rocky 

 Mountain Goat {Haploceros montanus), which ranges through the 

 Rocky Mountains from California to Canada. It is not a very 

 typical goat, and forms one of a small group of genera intermediate 

 in character between goats and antelopes. 



(4) Antelopes constitute a large group of hollow-horned rumi- 

 nants difficult, if not impossible, to define, but including those 

 members of the family which are obviously neither oxen, sheep, 

 nor goats. There are, however, many transitional forms, such as 

 the one kst mentioned under the heading of goats. The group 

 is now characteristic of Africa, Syria, and Arabia, though there 

 are a number of outlying species. A typical antelope is elegant 

 in form, with head carried well above the body and bearing 

 graceful horns, prominently ringed, and straight, simply curved, 

 ■or twisted. The bony horn-cores are of more solid nature than 

 in the other divisions of the ox family, and there is frequently, as 

 in sheep, a glandular pit below the eye. 



The Chamois {Rupicapra tragus) is one of the transition forms 



