MAMMALIA — RUMINANTIA. 
63 
the Abyssinian one the name of Antilope hohor. (Verz. d. Senck. 
Samml. s. 38). 
Captain Abbot has informed us, that the Antilope sagia lives in 
large flocks in the Steppes, between the river Oxus and the Caspian. 
(Ann. ix. p. 147.) 
In the 16th number of Smith’s South African Zoology, a plate is given 
of Antilope gorgon, with an ample description. 
Blasius spoke upon the generic distinction between Ovis and Capra, 
at the meeting of Naturalists at Brunswick. (Ber. p. 89.) All Sheep 
possess a distinct lachrymal groove, which is wanting in Goats. The fore- 
head in Capra rises to a steep protuberance ; in Ovis it is flat, or even 
somewhat hollowed. In all species of Ovis, the greatest diameter of the 
horn is across the longitudinal direction of the head, while, in all species 
of the Capra, it runs parallel with it. The Goats have, on the anterior 
side of the horns, at each constriction, two or three stronger trans- 
verse knobs, between the smaller cross waves ; the Sheep only moderate 
cross pads. In Capra, the form of the hoof, vicAved sideways, is four- 
sided, trapezoidal, scarcely higher before than behind. In Ovis, it is 
three-sided, running out to a point posteriorly, like a goat’s hoof cut 
through diagonally. Blasius also made some remarks on periodicity in 
the growth of the horns of these animals, which corresponds to the 
shedding of the antlers in the Stags. The same author farther remarked, 
that in general, complete specific distinctions were to be found in the 
arrangement and direction of Sheep’s horns. In the Ovis argali, O. 
montana, 0. nahor, and a newly defined species which Brandt has 
received from the Caspian, the right horn winds in a space to the left, 
and the left horn to the right. 0. nivicula and 0. californica are 
identical with 0 . montana. 
In the 0. musmon and 0. Vignii, Hodgs., the horn has the same 
twist, but so slight, that the anterior surface lies quite on the same 
level, and the twist is only perceptible on the posterior surface. In 
the 0. tragelophus, 0. orientalis, Gm., 0. hurhel, and the Cyprian 
Sheep (0. cyprius), which Blasius considers as a peculiar species, 
the left horn is twisted to the left, and the right to the right. 
The direction of the tips and the spread of the horns is also afifected 
by this construction. Our domestic Sheep, in respect to the horn 
formation, comes nearest O. musmon, and to a species of Brandt’s still 
undescribed. 
The reporter is of opinion, that separate names should be given to the 
constant local forms of the genus ; though, in the meanwhile, whether 
they are to be considered as species, or only as races, which have 
evidently a permanent type, is a question, the definite answer to which 
must be furnished from a series of indubitable observations. 
The reporter extracts the following quotation from a Report of Karelin* 
107 
