1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 291 



Of Leporidce, Mr. Baker asserts that the Lepus ruficaudatus, in 

 addition to L. nigricollis, inhabits his neighbourhood ; also the true 

 Hog Deer (Cervus porcinus), of which Dr. Kelaart presented a living 

 male from Ceylon, where known as the ' Paddy-field Deer' (his C. or y zee).* 



Elephas. " Section of a process taken from the head of a Malabar 

 wild Elephant having perfect tusks." A remarkable concretion of ivory, 

 taken probably from the tusk-socket, 4 in. long by 2 in. across where 

 widest. 



Xemas hylocrius, Ogilby. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 81 : Copra (Ibex) war- 

 ryato, Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H., X (1842), 267. " Warra-ardu or 'Preci- 

 pice Goat.' " (Baker.) ' Ibex' of Nilgiri sportsmea. The skull of an adult 

 male, with fine arched horns, measuring 15 in. round the curvature. 

 " The Ibex-skull I send," remarks the donor, " I intended to have sent 

 with his skin. The animal, when alive, was as large as an ordinary 

 [Indian] Donkey, and so heavy that six men could with difficulty bring 

 him in. Back almost black, sides brown, legs grizzled with white. Un- 

 fortunately the skin was quite spoiled, though it had been beautifully 

 taken off. The female has only two teats.f They are very numerous, 

 feeding like a flock of Sheep on the hill-tops, and only flee to the precipices 

 when alarmed. They will even hide in jungle and grass. There is a 

 solitary Roman Catholic church on a rock in the jungles, on the borders 

 of Travancore and Cochin, where the wild ' Ibex' are common, and 

 though numbers of people go there on pilgrimage these ' Ibex' walk about 

 among them and eat the sesamum-seed given them, but do not allow 

 themselves to be touched. They are considered holy and belonging to 

 the church." Elsewhere the same observer remarks, writing of the game 

 animals of the western ghats, that — " If the mountains are at all rocky 

 aud precipitous, you will find the wild Goat or ' Ibex' close to the rocks, 

 often in large herds, * * * I have occasionally seen some of these 

 animals much smaller than the usual size, and somewhat shaggy as to 

 their colouring. Sportsmen in the Pulneys and Ghats near Cape Comorin 

 talk of a wild Sheep. I think it is probable." Scarcely so : though we 

 do read of a " wild Sheep" as abounding in the highlands of Madura ; % and 



* Vide note to p. 297. 



f This also is stated in a MS. description which the Hon'ble Walter Elliot 

 favored me with many years ago ; whereas the nearly affined Tehr and Goral of 

 the Himalaya have four developed teats. The Nilgiri animal has commonly two 

 young at a birth, or at least the females are usually seen followed by two kids. 



% Thornton's Gazetteer of India. Art. Madura ; which province must not be 

 confounded with the island so named that is close to Java. 



2 p 2 



