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Show 248 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON CAPRA AGAGRUS. [May 5, at first supposed it might be referred to C. papuanus ; but, judging from the description of this species given by Schlegel (I. s. c), such could not be the case. He had therefore designated it Casuarius westermanni, after the distinguished Director of the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, through whom the Society had received their unique specimen. Mr. Sclater announced that H.M. Government had acceded to the request of the Royal Society to send out a naturalist to Kerguelen's Land to accompany the astronomical expedition to that island for the observation of the transit of Venus, and that the Rev. A. E. Eaton had been selected for the post. Mr. W. T. Blanford exhibited some horns of the wild Goat of Persia (Capra agagrus), and also for comparison two pairs belonging to the same animal from Sind, lent by Mr. E. Ward. H e pointed out that these were identical, and that it appeared probable that the wild Goat of Northern Persia, Asia Minor, and Crete was the same as that of Southern Persia and Sind; but hitherto he had been unable to compare heads. Of the Persian horns exhibited, all of which had been collected by Major St. John, R.E., one pair was from Shiraz, and the remainder, two pairs and an odd born, from Isfahan. Compared with the figure of C. agagrus in Blasius's ' Wirbelthiere Europa's,' the only perceptible difference was that the horns there figured were rather more curved inwards towards the points. These latter horns were probably from Asia Minor or the Caucasus ; but no locality was assigned. The Goat of Northern Persia was undoubtedly the Mgagrus of Pallas, Capra agagrus of Schreber. An earlier name perhaps was Capra bezoartica of Linnaeus; but it was impossible to identify the Persian Wild Goat, or any other known Persian ruminant, with Linnaeus's description, " cornibus teretibus arcuatis totis annulatis, gula barbata." The description of the bearded throat alone agreed with that of the Persian Wild Goat; the account of the round, arcuate, and annulate horns must have been taken from some other ruminant, probably from the Persian Gazelle. But the name bezoartica was probably intended to apply to C. agagrus, from which the true bezoar, so widely famed in mediaeval times as an antidote to poison, was obtained. Bezoars, it was true, occurred in the stomachs of many ruminants; but those obtained occasionally from the Persian Wild Goat long enjoyed a surprising and superstitious reputation, which still exists amongst the Persians, who consider these calcareous secretions a kind of universal remedy. The name of Antilope bezoartica had been incorrectly applied by several naturalists to the C o m m o n Indian Antelope, the proper name for which was Antilope cervicapra (Linn.), it being the Capra cervicapra of Linnaeus. The following papers were read :- |