NATUEALIST IN INDIA. 279 



formants, Peyton and Smith, it is met with in herds. In the 

 former gentleman's collection from the northern part of Nobra, 

 I observed one with a horn much distorted and stunted in 

 growth, which would show that these slender members are apt 

 to get damaged, and possibly one might drop off occasionally, 

 which would give the animal the appearance of being one- 

 horned, and account for the Messrs, Hue and Gabet's* asser- 

 tion with reference to a iinicorn, even as Dr. Hooker justly 

 remarks a profile view of the animal might to careless ob- 

 servers carry a like impression. The Tibetan antelope is swift- 

 footed and graceful in its movements, and by no means shy 

 in situations where it has not been often hunted. The height of 

 an adult male is 3 feet 3 inches, and the average length of horn 

 about 24 inches. One of Peyton's trophies measured 27 inches. 

 It was remarked that in nearly all his skins, amounting to 

 upwards of twenty, there was found clusters of the larva of an 

 insect, each of the size of a sparrow's egg, deeply embedded 

 under the skin of the back and hips. Like the other wild 

 ruminants of these regions the sous repairs to the snow during 

 mid-day to escape the flies and insects, which seem to annoy 

 it in a great degree. The two slit-like openings in the groin, 

 which Peyton informed me formed pouches capable of con- 

 taining the clenched fist, are certainly strange appendages, 

 and like the infra-orbital openings their uses seem by no means 

 apparent. We had scarcely pitched our tents near a spring 

 in the immediate vicinity of the lake, when the excessive 

 heat and oppressive state of the atmosphere suddenly changed, 

 and a cold breeze came down the mountains, where a thunder- 

 storm was seen raging with great violence. Gradually it moved 

 along the northern shore of the lake towards us. In half-an- 

 hour the thermometer came down from 82° to 34°, and snow 



* TroAids in Tartary. 



