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Show 1887.] DR. M. MENZBIER ON A NEW CAUCASIAN GOAT. 619 The curve of the horns is as follows (I speak of the horns of the full-grown male): from the head the horns rise upwards and outwards, then backwards and outwards, and finally downwards, with the tips curved inwards (cornua .... maxima, .... retrorsum et extrorsum arcuata, apice denuo introrsum vergentia), so that the tips approach one another very sensibly. The section of the horns taken near the base is quadrangular with rounded posterior corners. On the front surface of the basal half there are 8 or 9 small ribs, on the apical half about 10 more conspicuous nodules. The length along the anterior surface is from 30" to 32" 2'" ; the circumference at the base is from 11" to 12". The distance between the tips of the horns is only about 20". By all these characters of the horns Capra caucasica differs from Capra severtzowi and approaches to C. cylindricornis sive AEg. pallasii. The incisors of the lower jaw are fine and slight in comparison with those of Capra severtzoivi. The skull has a higher forehead, more broadly developed occipital and frontal regions, and is more solid. The beard, reddish-brown in colour, is short and broad, like that of Capra cylindricornis, and not like the beard of Capra severtzowi. The head is covered with a reddish-brown fur, darker in the front than at the sides. The general colour of the fur is yellowish-brown-grey, the colour of Cervus elaphus ; but on the nape of the neck is a lighter spot; along the edge of the spine there is a dark stripe; the groins are light; the tail is covered with very long dark brown hairs. The extremities are dark, with a slightly developed light stripe on the posterior side of the fore feet, more visible on the posterior side of the hind feet. The fur on the belly is very dark, black-brown. The distribution of Capra caucasica is very limited ; it inhabits only the mountains between Elbruz and Dykh-tau, i. e. it is met with only at the sources of the Chegem, Baksan, and Malka. This region is central in its position, between the region of C. cylindricornis on the east and the region of C. severtzowi on the west. CAPRA SEVERTZOWI, sp. n. The Capra caucasica of M r . Dinnik differs in such a great number of characters from the true Capra caucasica of Giild., that it undoubtedly must be distinguished as a separate species. It is a very powerful animal, with enormous black horns, as in C. caucasica, but their curve is regular and inclined in one plane. From the head the horns rise upwards and outwards, then backwards and outwards, and finally downwards. I have seen many beautiful horns of this species with the tips curved outwards, but this is not the rule, though the distance between their tips is always enormous compared with the horns of Capra caucasica: on the authority of Mr. Dinnik, this distance is nearly 3 feet in one skull of his collection, and I know a skull with the distance between the tips of the horns about 32''. The section of the horns taken near the base is triangular, with rounded corners. O n the front surface there are more or less conspicuous nodules. |
