OF NEPAL. 



141 



without the intervention of any suture. From the point where these 

 ridges commence, to that at which they rise above the crown of the skull, 

 their length is about four inches. From the latter point, the pedestals 

 proceed, rectilinearly, but inclined rather backwards, about three and a 

 half inches more ; and there they terminate, and the horns commence. 

 In this second portion, the pedestals are bony as before, and entirely 

 covered, by a continuation of the frontal skin, with rather more than its 

 usual quantity of hair on them. The pedestals have, in this their fully 

 developed part, a strong lateral compression ; their shape being precisely 

 that of an ordinary stick of sealing wax ; and uniform throughout. They 

 have a gradual and not inconsiderable divergency amounting to about 

 three inches at their summits. At the crown of the skull, their interval is 

 about two inches. The horns which rise from these remarkable columns 

 have all the well known characters of the genus. They fall off and are 

 renewed, annually, between June and September ; their nucleus being a 

 swollen marginal protuberance, just like the burr of the horns in common 

 Deer. The horns are very insignificant, having an extreme length of 

 about three and a quarter inches, and only a proportionate thickness. 

 Like that of the pedestals, the general direction of the horns is upwards, 

 with an inclination backwards. They are rounded, in the main, but have 

 a slight lateral compression near to the pedestals : their surface, in gene- 

 ral, smooth, but furrowed, more or less, by longitudinal grooves. The 

 principal curve of the horns is an outward or lateral convexity, with the 

 points turned, very decidedly, inwards ; and, less decidedly, backwards, 

 but not absolutely " hooked" — at least not in the majority of individuals. 

 Hence, in the specific character, I have called the horns sublunated. But 

 the term can only be justly used in a qualified sense ; and, as not merely 

 the points but the u])per halves of the horns are, in some specimens, con- 

 vexly turned hack., thouirh, in a less degree, than tliey aio bowed lateral- 

 ly, perhaps they might he. little less justly characterised as subiecurved 

 than as sublunated. From the base ol'ciilicr horn proceed one or two erect, 



2 N 



