342 Description of a new species of Tibetan Antelope. [No. 173. 



Head, width of, between the outer margins of orbits, .08 7| 



Head, depth of, from frontal crest to lower edge °f t q 91 



jaws,.. • S a 



Head, length of, from nose to fore-angle of eye 9| . 8| 



Fore-leg, top of cannon-bone to tip of hoof, I 2| 1 0* 



Hind-leg, ditto ditto ■ '. 1 4* 12 



Ears,.... 44 41 



Tail only, 2* 1| 



Tail and tuft 3± 2| 



Length of fore- hoof, 3J 3 



Breadth of ditto, 2* 2 



Horns. 



Length by curve 3 1 1 1\ 



Basal, depth of, 6 2| 



Basal, width of, 33 \\ 



Basal interval, 0* If 



Terminal interval, 1 8§ 1 3^ 



Circumference of base, 1 3| 8 



Remarks. — No great while ago only two or three species of wild sheep 

 were recognised by men of science. But Mr. Blyth has all at once pro- 

 duced a splendid cornucopia of species,* founding many of them however, 

 upon an inspection of the horns solely. I question the possibility of so 

 establishing species or genera in this group ; and, as a proof of the neces- 

 sity of examining carefully the entire structure of the animals, I need 

 merely refer to Mr. Blyth's signal error, already adverted to, in 

 reference to the organization of Capra or the domestic goat, and to 

 an oversight equally important to be mentioned presently. A strong 

 conviction of the necessity of extreme caution in the examination 

 of the Capridee, while it must serve as an apology for the tediousness 

 of the present paper, will, I trust, by its results, enable those who 

 are in possession of Pallas' Ovis amnion and Dseren, to determine whe- 

 ther 1 have, or have not, justly made out the distinctness of my ammo- 

 noides and Goa. In further proof of the necessity of extreme caution 

 and of research carried into the entire structure of the Capridse, I may 

 mention that my Ovis nahoor is, like Tragelaphus, devoid of the sub- 

 orbital sinus, whether in the scull or skin. In drawing up my original 

 description of this species, I too easily presumed that these organs were 

 forthcoming ; but in my amended description I noticed the absence of 

 all trace of them in the scull, though still without advertence to the 

 skin. Further conversancy with nature has, however, since then given 

 me a greater distrust of books, and, having recently procured a fine 

 specimen of the Nahoor, I ascertained beyond a doubt, that the animal, 

 though possessed of interdigital, is entirely devoid of suborbital, pits. 

 Simultaneously I obtained two specimens of Mr. Blyth's Ovis barhal, 

 and found them also provided with interdigital, but wanting suborbital, 

 sinuses, as in the Nahoor, from which species I now incline to regard 



* Proceed. Zool. Society, August, 1840. 



