12 
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
appears to be fixed in both the summer and winter pelage, as 
the markings were found on the skins of goats killed both in 
July and November. Reports of goat with these characters are 
widespread along the upper Columbia River, so that it would 
seem as though toward the southern limit of its range, a color 
variation were just beginning to appear. In addition to its uni- 
formly white color, Oreamnos differs from the serow in the promi- 
nence of its eye sockets, in the elongated shape of the muzzle 
and face, in the position and shape of the horns and more par- 
ticularly in the cannon bones, which are exceptionally short and 
stout. In this latter respect Oreamnos departs widely from all 
the other members of the Riipicaprincc. The most striking char- 
acter however, of Oreamnos, is the presence, situated in a half 
circle immediately behind each horn, of a large, black scent- 
gland, as large as half an orange. This gland is sometimes so 
tough as to wear deeply into the base of the horn. A horn 
worn away in this manner was secured by the writer in British 
Columbia. 
The comparatively short duration of time since the appearance 
of Oreamnos in America and the somewhat uniform character 
of its habitat, probably account for the absence of much type 
variation. 
TYPES OF OREAMNOS. 
The first specimens of the mountain goat to be described, came 
from the Cascade Alountains on the Columbia River in Oregon 
and of course now stand as the type of Oreamnos montanus, hav- 
ing been first described by Rafinesque in 1817. This subspecies is 
intermediate in size between the eastern form of American goat, 
O.m.missonlce, and the large Canadian O.mxolnmbiamis, and, is 
characterized by a short but broad skull. The true Oreamnos 
inontaniis extends from about the Canadian boundary, south 
through Washington into Oregon. In the '70’s a considerable 
number were found on Mt. Ranier in Washington, and they still 
occur on Mt. Baker to the northward. It is absent, however, 
from the Olympic Mountains, from Vancouver Island and from 
the southern Cascades in Oregon. Nothing is known of the 
northern limits of this subspecies, but it probably does not extend 
very far into British Columbia, merging at that point into Ojn. 
eolumbianus. The most southerly Oregon records that the writer 
has been able to obtain is Mt. Jefferson in that State, latitude 
44° 40' north, in approximately the same latitude as the Sawtooth 
Mountains in Idaho. 
