CAPRE2E, a sub-tribe of the family Bovidm amongst the Ruminant Mammalia, and equivalent to the sub-tribes Boccie [Bovinx], Anti lopece, Strepsicerce [AssrisoPEse], and Over [OvE.E], according to Dr. Gray's arrangement of the Mammalia in the British Museum. The Caprece include what are commonly known by the name of Goats. The classification of these animals has been the cause of much differ ence of opinion.
Ray established three genera of Ruminants with bisulcated hoofs. 1. Bovinum genus—the Oxen. 2. Ovinum, genus—the Sheep. 3. Ca prinum genus—the Goats ; comprising the Common Goat, the Ibex, the Chamois, the Gazelles, &c.
Klein'a second family of quadrupeds consisted of those which have a divided horny hoof. The type of the first genus was the Os ; of the second, the Sheep ; of the third, the Goat ; of the fourth, the Stag ; and of the fifth, the Hog.
Brisson's .fifth order consisted of those quadrupeds which have no incisor teeth in the upper jaw, but have eight in the lower jaw, and the hoof cloven. The first section consists of those which have simple horns ; and comprises, as genera, the Giraffe, the Goat, the Sheep, and the Ox. The quadrupeds with branched horns, the Stags, follow.
Linnecue in his last edition (the 12th) makes Capra the fourth genus of his fifth order (Pecora), placing it between Cerrus and Oris: the genus contained the species Biretta, Ibex, Mambrica (Syrian Goat), Rupicapra (Chamois), &c., including some of the Antelopes and Capra Ammon (Tragelaphus and Mutimon of Gesner).
Gmelin, in the 13th edition of the ` Systema Naturre,' arranges the genus Capra under the same order, between Antilope and Oris, to which latter genus he transfers the Mnsmon, Capra Ammon (Gmel.) of Linnmus, (his Ammon of Gmelin.
Pennant, in the first and third edition of his Synopsis,' placed the Goats between the Sheep and the Giraffe, the latter being followed by the Antelopes : in his British Zoology' the Goats are arranged between the Sheep and the Deer.
M. Lesson, in his ' Manuel ' (1827), arranges the Caprida (Les Caprees) between the Bovidte (Les Bovin6es) and the (hides (Lea OvinSes).
In both his editions of the `Rogue Animal,' Cuvier gives the Goats (Capra) the same position under his Ruminants h. Conies Creuses (Caricornia—Hollow-Horned Ruminants, or those whose borne have a bony core), namely, between Antilope and Oris.
Fischer (1829) arranges the genus Capra (which he divides into two sections--1, Barbara, Caprce of authors ; 2, Imberbes, Ores of authors) between Antilope and Boa.
Dr. T. E. Gray, as we have seen, places Capra among the Porkier. In his interesting Spicilegia Zoologica ' (1830), where he figures the female of the Nubian Goat, the genus appears under that family. He had previously so arranged it in the 'Annals of Philosophy' (1825) ; and Mr. W. S. M'Leay, in his paper ' On the Comparative Anatomy of certain Birds of Cuba' (' Linnwan Transactions '), speaking of the Mammalia, observes that the normal and aberrant groups were dis tinguished and named by Aristotle in his Historia Animaliurn,' but had not, to his knowledge, appeared again in any work until Dr. Gray had the honour of reviving them in the Annals of Philosophy.' Referring our readers to the works of Messrs. F. Cuvier, De Blainville, Desmarest, Desmoulins, Erxleben, Geoffrey, Hassclquist, Illiger, Lich tenstein, Meyer, Schreber, Shaw, Zimmermann, and others, for their views on this subject, which, however interesting and desirable for the student, our limits will not permit us to dwell on here, we proceed to notice the observations of Mr. Hodgson in the Zoological l'roceed
ings' for 1834.
Mr. Hodgson, after remarking on the difficulty experienced by zoologists in the determination of distinctive marks adequate for the separation of the genera Antilope, Capra, and Onis, insists that, as he has shown, the character founded on the presumed absence of cavities in the cores of the horns connected with the frontal shins is incorrect, and he conceives that the value of the characters which are generally admitted by authors as distinguishing between the genera Capra and Oris may be tested by a comparison of the wild race of either genus which belongs to the Himalaya. lie then describes Capra Jhdral, which is "clad in close short hair, and without the least vestige of a beard," as related to the Alpine .zEgagri and to Capra Jemlaica and Oris Nahoor (Hodgson), placing them both under the tribe Capridce (H. Smith); and having completed the description of this wild goat and wild sheep, he proceeds to exhibit the points of difference and of resemblance between the two in the following table In describing the wild sheep, Mr. Hodgson observes that the horns are inserted high above the orbits on the crown of the forehead, touch ing nearly at the base with their whole depth, and carrying the frontal bones very high up between them, the parietals being depressed in an equal degree. The goat's skull has, he states, the same form, hut less strikingly developed ; and he seems to think that this form of the skull would afford a just and general mark to separate Or4 and Capra from Cerrus and Antilope, remarking that there is a gradation of cha racters in this respect among the Antelopes tending to the Caprine type in their general structure. Mr. Hodgson thus concludes : " The goat and sheep have in common hair and wool; no beard; no subor bital sinuses; evanescent muzzle; no inguinal pores ; horns in contact at the top of the head ; knees and sternum callous ; angular and transversely wrinkled horns ; striated ears ; two teats only in the females ; horns in both sexes; and, lastly, incisors of precisely the same form. Of the various diagnostics then proposed by Colonel Hamilton Smith, it would seem that the following only can be per fectly relied on to separate Cris from Capra :—slender limbs; longer pointed ears ; chaffron arched ; Hares long and oblique; very volumi nous horns, turned laterally with double flexure& I should add myself the strong and invariable distinction—males not odorous, as opposed to the males odorous of the genus Capra- But after All there are no physical distinctions at all equivalent to the moral ones so finely and truly delineated by Buffon, and which, notwithstanding what Colonel H. Smith urges in favour of the courage and activity of sheep, will for ever continue to be recognised as the only essential diagnostics of the two genera." Mr. Swainson (' Classification of Quadrupeds,' 1835) places the Goats (Capra) between the Boridcc, or Bovine Family, and the Sheep ((Iris).