148 Rough Notes on the Zoology of tandahar. [No. 170. 



2nd. — From Aristotle's description of the animal, and the habit 

 furnished by him, as well as from Mr. Ogilby's remarks thereon, I 

 would beg to suggest, that the Hippelaphus is nothing more than the 

 " Capra cegagrus" 



I found this opinion on the following facts, namely : — 



1st. — Hippelaphus inhabits the country of Arachosia, in which the 

 C cegagrus abounds, but where neither the Nylghau nor the Saumer 

 occurs. 



2nd. — " The Hippelaphus," says the Greek philosopher, " has a mane 

 (like a horse) above the shoulders, but from this to the head, along the 

 top of the neck, it is very thin ; it has likewise a beard on the larynx ; 

 it is about the size of a Stag — the female has no horns — those of the 

 male resemble the horns of the Dorcas (Gazella dorcasj : — it inhabits 

 Arachosia." (Royle's Him. Bot., Mamm., p. 74.) Now a reference 

 to the figure of C. cegagrus given in the * Calcutta Journal of Natural 

 History,' No. 8, will show the mane and beard alluded to by Aristotle ; 

 in the figure, however, the hair on the shoulders or withers is not repre- 

 sented long enough, nor so thick as in the living animal. This animal 

 therefore possesses precisely such a mane as Aristotle describes, it being 

 longest on the shoulder and growing thinner and shorter towards the 

 head : it has likewise a long and bushy beard depending from the throat. 



Mr. Ogilby, after declaring that it can be easily proved, that the 

 Dorcas is the Gazelle of Egypt, goes on to say that — " Theodore Gaza, 

 himself a Greek, and the first translator of Aristotle, very properly ren- 

 ders the word by Capra." Here then is a corroboration of my opinion, 

 for according to Aristotle and his first translator, the Hippelaphus inha- 

 bited Arachosia, i. e. Candahar ; it had a mane and beard ; so has C. 

 (Bgagrus : it has horns like the Dorcas or goat ; C. cegagrus is a 

 horned goat. The only dissimilitude is in the female having no horns, 

 whereas all the specimens I have seen of the female cegagrus were 

 horned. Even this, however, is in a measure nullified by the statement 

 in the English Regne Animal, that the female has " short or no horns." 

 If, therefore, the horns are sometimes wanting, it may have been from a 

 hornless specimen that Aristotle's description was drawn up. 



The Capra cegagrus will consequently be found in every respect to 

 answer the description of Hippelaphus, both as to its appearance and 

 habitat ; while in the latter respect at least, neither the Portax picta nor 



