169—82 CRANIA OF RUMINANTS FROM THE INDIAN TERTIARIES. 
Family ^ — CAPBIBjF. 
Genus: CAPRA. 
Of this division of the Ruminantia, the number of forms hitherto discovered 
in the Indian Tertiaries is very small, and individual specimens are also rare. One 
species of Capra I have determined from the cast of a cranium, the original of which 
is in the British Museum, and which was collected in the Siwaliks of the Markanda 
river hy Dr. Falconer ; a second species is founded on a portion of cranium with horn- 
cores from Perim Island, now in the Indian Museum ; while a third form, to which 
I have not assigned a specific name, is only known to us from several portions of 
detached horn-cores, collected hy Mr. Theobald in the Upper Siwaliks of the Potwar 
district ; this last form was alhed to, though distinct from, the existing Himalayan 
Markhoor, Capra falconeri. The late Mr. Blyth^ announced the discovery of a part 
of the cranium and horn-cores of an ibex from the Siwaliks in the following words : 
“ I have received a portion of a head and horn-cores of a true ibex, to all appearance 
identical with the species {Capra salceen, nobis) which still inhabits the loftiest 
Himalayan crags.” I am unable to discover what has become of this specimen, hut 
I very much doubt if it is specifically identical with Capra sibirica ((7. sakeen, 
Blyth). Mr. Blyth then proceeds to say that the occmTence of this fossil proved 
the existence of lofty mountains close to the old Siwalik area ; tliis supposition is 
confirmed hy the discovery of the above-mentioned horn-core of a goat allied to 
the Markhoor in the Potwar district. 
No species of the genus Capra is included hy Dr. Falconer in any of his Lists of 
Mammals from the Indian Tertiaries, though the above-mentioned cranium from 
the Siwaliks appears to have been referred hy him to this genus. The addition of 
this genus to the Fauna of the Indian Pliocene strata, is extremely important, as it 
is one of the most modern forms of the modern group of Ruminants ; all the 
European fossil species belong to the “ diluvial” or post-tertiary epoch, and its 
occurrence in India with Chalicotherium and other extinct forms leading hack to the 
Miocene period is only another instance of the strange mixture of genera which we 
find in these strata. The species described below from Perim Island seems un- 
doubtedly to have been obtained from the same beds in which the jaws and teeth of 
Binotherium and Acerotherium were found ! 
Capra Sivalensis, n. sp. nobis. PL 28, figs. 1 & 2. 
Of this species we have several detached horn-cores in the Indian Museum, but 
I have figured the cast of a specimen of the cranium now in the British Museum, 
which is more complete than any of our own. The specimen figured exhibits tlie 
posterior half of the cranium above the orbits, with the horn-cores of both sides. 
' Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, Vol. XI, p. 78. 
