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Show 1886.] MR. P. L. SCLATER O N WILD GOATS. 315 1. CAPRA PYRENAICA. Capra pyrenaica, Schinz, Neue Denkschr. d. allg. Schweiz. Ges. Nat. ii. p. 9, t. ii., iii. (1838). Capra hispanica, Schimper, Compt. Rend. xxvi. p. 318 (1848). The Spanish Ibex is now well known to occur not only in the Pyrenees but, under a slightly altered phase, in Central Spain and in the higher ranges of Andalusia and Portugal. It is curious that it is more nearly allied to the Caucasian Ibex than to the Ibex of the Alps. The only specimens of this species we have yet received alive are those presented by Major Howard Irby in 1868 and 1869 '. They were obtained in the Sierra Hermosura, north of Marbella, in the province of Malaga. 2. CAPRA IBEX, Linn. Capra ibex, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 95. So far as I know the Steinbok, or Bouquetin, is confined to the Alps of Switzerland, Savoy, and Tyrol, where it is now become nearly extinct, except in one or two places in which it has been specially cared for and artificially preserved for sporting purposes. Whether the pair of this species presented to us by the late King of Italy in 1862 were really perfectly pure was, I have always thought, a little doubtful ; at all events it is well known that the Alpine Ibex breeds freely with the Domestic Goat, and I have seen many such hybrids. 3. CAPRA .EGAGRUS, Gm.2 (Plate XXXI.) The Wild Goat, which was so abundant over the Grecian Archipelago in the time of Homer, seems now only to exist in Crete and some of the smaller Cyclades3. It appears, however, to be found throughout the mountains of Asia Minor and Persia, and to extend into Sind and Baluchistan*. There can be no question, I suppose, that the Domestic Goat is a derivative principally of this species, but with a piobable mixture of other species in different localities. Mr. T. B. Sandwith, H.B.M. Consul for Crete, has sent us several examples of Wild Goats which must be referred to this species. Mr. Smit's drawing (Plate XXXI.) represents a fine male of this animal, presented by Mr. Sandwith in March 1884. 4. CAPRA CAUCASICA5. Capra caucasica, Giild. Act. Petrop 1779, pt. 2, p. 2/3 (1783). uEgoceros ammon, Pallas, Zoograph. i. p. 229. 1 See ' List of Vertebrate Animals,' ed. 8, p. 153. 2 For synonymy, see Blanford, J. A. S. B. xliv. pt. ii. p. 15. 3 Antimelos and Joura. See Erhard, ' Fauna der Cykladen' (Leipzig, 1858), p. 32, where this species is described as Mgoceros pictus. 4 Blanford, 'Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 89. 5 The specimens called Capra caucasica in the British Museum belong either to Capra agagrus or to a closely allied species, with the horns compressed and angular in front. 21* |
