GOATS. 



27 



close resemblance of its tawny coat to the limestone rocks of the 

 district. The species alone represents the subgenus Ammotragus. 

 The specimen exhibited was presented by Sir E. G. Loder. 



Goats By means of the Bharal Sheep (Ovis nahura) and [Lower 



Pallas's Ture or Goat (Capra cylindricornis) , the Q a u erT 

 GenilS Capra. Sheep and Goats are so closely connected that it is Case 46.] 

 almost impossible to draw a satisfactory line of distinction between 

 them. The males of the latter have^ however, a strong odour, and 

 carry a beard of variable size on the chin. None of the Goats 

 possess a gland beneath the eye — a character which they have in 

 common with the goat-like Sheep. The horns of the males are 

 long, and generally more or less compressed or angulated ; and in 

 many species they bear prominent knobs on the front surface. In 

 some kinds they are spirally twisted, and in others scimitar-shaped. 

 In the wild species the females have small horns placed wide apart. 

 The groove on the upper lip is less marked in some species than 

 in Sheep. Goats ditfer from Sheep in selecting for their habitation 

 the most precipitous and rugged mountains, and are absent from 

 open elevated districts like the Pamirs of Central Asia. 



Ture, or Caucasus Goats. ™ e two ^ cies of ™ i,d Goats— locally 



. known as Ture, or Tur — inhabiting the 



fc.cyiinaricormsacaucasica. Caucasus Mo 



untains serve to connect 

 the Bharal with the true Ibex. The more Bharal-like species, [Oases 

 known to sportsmen as the Caucasian Bharal, and zoologically as 48 & 49 ] 

 Pallas's Ture {Capra cylindricornis, 1080), is from the Eastern 

 Caucasus; while C. caucasica (1081) of the Western and Central 

 Caucasus, commonly known as the Caucasian Ibex, is the one 

 which comes nearer to the Ibex. The former species is a brown 

 animal with a short curling head, and blackish, smooth, sub- 

 cylindrical, Bharal-like horns. The latter, on the other hand, is of 

 a uniformly chestnut-red colour, with heavily knotted and upwardly 

 directed Ibex-like horns which form very striking trophies. The 

 mounted adult male specimen of the West Caucasian Ture was 

 presented by Mr. St. George Littledale. 



The Wild Goat. The 13asan &> or Goat (1082), is the [Case 50.] 



n ancestral stock from which the various 



oapra nircus aigagrus. domt . 



sticated breeds of Goats are mainly 

 derived. The species is characterised by the scimitar-like horns 

 of the males being compressed, and sharply keeled in front ; the 



