NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
9 
In western Europe we find first the chamois (Rupicapra) , 
known in the Spanish Sierras and Pyrenees as the izard, and ex- 
tending- eastward through the Alps and Carpathians as far as the 
Caucasus. Throughout all this range only one species is recog- 
nized. 
The next genus of this group is the goral (Cemas), with four 
species ranging throughout the Himalayas and parts of China, 
into Amurland. 
In Tibet we have the third and decidedly most aberrant mem- 
ber of the Riipicaprino’, the takin (Btidorcas) , the horns of which 
suggest those of the gnu. Only one species of this genus is 
known. 
The fourth, and to Americans perhaps the most interesting 
Old World member of this Subfamily, is the serow {Ncemo- 
rhedtis), locally known as the forest goat. This genus is per- 
haps, more closely allied to Oreamnos than any of the preceding 
genera, and its horns resemble those of the mountain goat, but 
are shorter and thicker. The genus Ncrinorhediis inhabits the 
Himalayas, Tibet and China with outlying representatives in 
Burma, Sumatra, Formosa and Japan and it is divided into 
numerous species. The fifth genus is Oreamnos, the subject of 
this article. 
All the members of these genera resemble the goat in tooth 
structure, but differ widely from them in the position and shape 
of the horns, face glands and other important details. The 
whole group is to be regarded as an early off-shoot of the 
BovidcE, to sortie extent intermediate between the goats and the 
true bovine antelopes. The Rtipicaprince must have pushed 
north, with their not distant ally the musk-ox, at a very early 
time and become adjusted to alpine and boreal conditions. At 
the close of the glacial period many of its members deserted 
the low country and retired to high altitudes so that in some 
instances, notably that of the chamois, we have an example of 
discontinuous distribution. Its sole American representative 
probably reached this continent by way of the Bering Sea land 
connection, during the middle Pleistocene, together with the 
other American genera of the Bovidcc. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Oreamnos as remarked above, while more closely related to 
Ncemorhedus than to the other members of the group, has de- 
parted widely in structure from all of its relatives. Its most 
