Euminantia. MAMMALIA. Puoboscidea. 
csxii 
favorite liabitat tliat tlie most experienced trapper, 
Imnter or native lias but a trifling stock of informa- 
tion concerning it. A few specimens liave been 
brought to the east tlirougli tlie agency of the officers 
of tlie Great ^N'^estern and Pacific Railroads. 'J'he 
long and rugged path along which the hunter has to 
drag his game has so far proved an effectual barrier 
to his preserving, in suitable condition, any consider- 
able number of these animals. Skins and portions 
of the carcass are not unfrequently brought in ; but 
the whole animal, or its perfect skin, is a rare and 
valuable thing. 
'I’he Mountain Goat is entirely white. 'I'he horns, 
hoofs and the edge of the nostrils are black. Like 
the Goats it has a tuft of hair under the chin. It is 
closely allied to the Chamois of the Alps. 'I’he most 
northern range it attains is latitude 65° north. 
Sub-Family— CAPRINA^. 
The Goats, Sheep and Musk-ox are embraced in 
this group. 'I'wo genera and twentj^-three species are 
enumerated. Capra is represented by twenty-two 
species, and Ovibos by one. Of the number in genus 
Capra one only is indigenous ^o America. Ovibos 
was formerly common to the Arctic regions of both 
continents, but is now confined to the American. 
Capra. 
Late writers jilace the Rig-horn or Mountain Sheeji 
in this genus. Wallace drops the genus Ovis, and 
jilaces the genera Capra and Ovibos as sole represen- 
tatives of the sub-family Gain'inm. 
MOUNTAIN SHEEP; BIG-HOKN [Gapra montana) 
— Plate 18, fig. 61. — 'I’his noble-looking animal enjoys 
a similar notoriety to the preceding. As it is the only 
one of its kind it is unique. It is not so difficult to 
procure, and, consequently, we see it oftener in collec- 
tions. A full-grown adult male is a marvel of power 
in its head and horns. 'I'he latter are enormously 
developed. 'I'he female has smaller horns, and is less 
in size. 'I’his species is much larger than the domes- 
tic Sheep. Audubon says : “A large Rig-horn will 
weigh three hundred and fifty pounds, perhaps more ; 
it is larger than a Virginia Deer.” A magnificent 
pair — male and female — prepared by Professor Ward, 
are in the American Museum. Professor Raird gives 
some statistics of weight, etc., of the horns, as follows : 
“In one old animal, the horns are nineteen inches 
apart at the tip ; they measure fifteen and a half 
inches in circumference at the base, and twenty- 
eight inches in length around the curve. 'I’hey weigh 
eighteen and a half pounds, with the perfectly clean 
skull, lacking the end of the nose and the lower jaw. 
in a specimen brought by Capt. Stansbury, the horns 
are eighteen inches in circumference ; the horn along 
the convexity thirty-six and a half inches, and the 
tips eighteen inches apart.” A full-grown Rig-horn 
measures about three feet six inches in height at the 
shoulders. 
Ovibos — Blainmllc. 
'Phis genus is characterized by having broad hoofs, 
inflexed at their tips ; a short tail, muzzle not naked, 
but having a small space between the nostrils devoid 
of hair, not furrowed ; horns much approximated at 
the base, and very broad, bending rapidly downwards ; 
hair very long and pendant. 
THE MUSK-OX {Ovibos moscbatus) — Fig. fil, vol. 
1, p. 163.— 'Phis is a very rare animal in collections, 
none of our native mammals being so unfamiliar. 
Oidy one living species is known. It bears a close 
resemblance to the Sheep, and is considered to be 
allied to them; the tei'in Musk-siikep is, therefore, 
more appropriate. It gets its specific name from a 
certain odor which is exhaled from it ; this is said 
even to impregnate the flesh. It is confined to the 
barren grounds of Arctic America — beyond 6(1° — 
extending northward as far as land is known. 
'Though apparently clumsy, the Musk-ox runs nimbly, 
and climbs the rocky hills with ease. 'Phe Rulls are 
said to be quite formidable antagonists when closely 
pressed. Several fossil species are found in this and 
the Old AVorld. In Europe, remains of this animal 
are found in cave deposits as far south as the Med- 
iterranean. 
Ei.Ei’iiANTiDiE. — -'Phe Elephants are represented by 
one genus and two very marked species, the Asiatic 
and the African. Fourteen species of Elephants, 
and a greater number of the allied genus Alastodon 
have been found, fossil and extinct, in the two con- 
tinents. 
IIyracoidea. — 'Phis is an order which includes 
only ten or twelve small creatures in one genus, all 
of the Old AV''orld. 'They are the Conies of Scrip- 
ture. 
'J’he orders Solklungula and Pachydermata are 
lost in our arrangement of the species in ATallace’s 
system. lAite classification ignores these orders, and 
with greater propriety adopts the more comprehen- 
sive term JJnyulata. 'Phe Morses, therefore, are 
placed at the commencement of the Ungulates, in 
accordance with this later system. It is of less im- 
portance to us, perhaps, in making this change, as 
neither of the orders concern us especially, there 
being no representatives in America. 'Phe Horses, 
indeed, are interesting to us as fossil e.xtinct species, 
an abundance of material being known to our AVest- 
ern 'Perritories, as we have seen in the chapter on 
the Palaeontology of Ungulates. 
