In an interesting paper on the Ruminantia( Zoological Proceedings '), Mr. Ogilby, after observing on the first introduction by Illiger of the consideration of the muzzle and lachrymal sinus into the definitions of the genera Antilope, Capra, and Boa, and the application of those principle. by Messrs. Lichtenstein, De Blainvillo, Deemareat, and Hamilton Smith, in the subdivision of the artificial gentle Analope into something more nearly approaching to natural groups (a reform but partial in its operation, and leaving the root of the evil untouched), makes Capridcr, which he places between Mosehidm and Boridcr, the fourth family of the order Pueninantia.
The following I. Dr. Gray's definition of the sub-tribe Caprece :— Forehead convex, elevated behind ; chin of males bearded; suborbital sinus none. Horns erect, compressed, curved backwards and rather outwards, and furnished with a longitudinal keel in front, deeper than wide at the base, and with transverse ridges in front. Hoofs four sided, scarcely higher before than behind. The skull has a small suborbital fissure, no fosse ; the masseterie ridge ascending high before the orbit ; the auditory bulls prominent and compressed ; the bami occipital flat, with its processes developed ; the middle incisors not expanded ; the molars without supplemental lobes. The occipital plane of skull forms an acute angle with frontal plane. Cores of horns thick, porous, cellular ; horns seated superiorly on the crest of the forehead, and by their union covering the top of the bead. Canine teeth wanting. Teats two, rarely four. The males have a strong stench ; they butt, first raising themselves on their hind legs and then coming down sideways against their enemies.
The following is a synopsis of the genera of Caprecr :— A. Muffle Naked.
1. Ilentitragua. Horns trigonal, compressed, and knotted in front 2. Kentas. Items square, flat, and cross-ridged in front.
B. Muffle Hairy.
3. a-Egoeeros. Horns roundish, conical.
4. Capra. Horns square, flat, and nodose in front 5. Biretta. Borns trigonal, compressed, sharp-edged, and knotted in front.
Dr. Gray refers the Common Goat, which must be taken as the typo of the family, to the last genus, of which it is the only species.
Biros. .if?gats, the Goat, is 'Ai/ (4 sal 47, but generally used for the female),rps, xipapos (the male), (popes (young male kid of three or four months), xlaaIpa (young female before its first winter), of the Greeks ; Caper, and Biretta (male), Capra (female), Bathos or lIcedus (a young male kid), Hcrdalua or lIcedillus (a very young male kid, or kidling, fptoot) Capella (female kid), of the Romani • Beceo (male), Capra (female), and Caprettino (kid and of tie Italians ; Bone (male), Chbvro (female), Chevrean (kid), of the French ; Cabron (male), Cabra (female), Cabrito (kid), of the Spanish ; Cabram (male), Cabra (female), dabrito (kid), of the Portuguese; Bock (male), Geisz (female), Bocklein (kid), of the Ger mane ; 136k (male), Giyt (female), of the Dutch ; Bock (male), Geet (female), Kildh (kid), of the Sweden; Buk, Goedebuk (male), Geed (female), Kid (kid), of the Danes ; 13wch (male), Gafr (female), Mynn (kid), of the ancient Britons. It is the Capra Biretta of Linnmus; the Capra Caueasia, H. Smith ; zEgoteros Capra, Pallas ; Capra ,Egaurets, Gmelin.
The varieties of this :mime' are very numerous ; and many of these are regarded by writers on natural history as species.
The Goat affords another example of the uncertainty which clench; the history of our domestic animals; • and to this day zoologists are not entirely agreed as to the species from which it is derived. Pro
fessor Bell, in his ' History of British Quadrupeds,' says,—" Tho opinions of naturalists have been much divided respecting the original stock of our domestic goat ; some referring it to the ,Egagrua and others to the Ibex. Buffon appears to have adopted the latter opinion; but most modern zoologists who have paid much attention to the question, sod who have brought to the consideration of it all the helps which recent discoveries in philosophical zoology have furnished, have leaned to the belief that the ./Egagrus, or wild goat of the mountains of Caucasus and of Persia, is the true original stock. The zoological character° of this animal certainly bear a closer resemblance to those of the domestio breeds ; and it is worthy of remark that the horns of the Persian domestic goat, though smaller, are similar in form to those of the Paseng, or zEgagrua. The arguments which have been urged from the intermixture of the Ibex with the common goat are at pre sent of little value, as the facts recorded are very deficient. The large goats which are reported to have been brought from the Alpe and the Pyrenees to the Garden of Plants in Paris, and which were stated to have been wild, were probably the progeny of the Ibex with the coin mon goat, as there is no proof of the existence of the true .Xyagrus in Europe. These were found to be capable of producing offspring, and the details are given by M. Fred. Cuvier with great clearness ; but the old fault still remains—the question is not set at rest by these obser vations; for we are only informed that they produce offapring, with out any statement whether they will breed inter se, or only with the common goat. The progeny however were either prematurely brought forth, or lived only a short time in a sick or languishing condition. Surrounded by these doubts, and without the power of satisfactorily solving them, it is better perhaps to leave the question to be decided by future experiments, should the opportunity ever occur of deter mining the results of interbreeding between the Ibex, the .Egagrus, and the common goat, particularly with reference to the mutual fer tility of the offspring." 131iffon'a opinion is not very clearly stated, nor is it certain that he had a very distinct idea on the subject. Souini, in his ' Travels in Greece and Turkey,' after speaking of the wild solitudes that surrouud the Convent of St. John at Cape Malacca, in Candia, says " Covies of red partridges delight in these inaccessible mountains, and there they live in safety. There also are to be seen wild goats, which leap from rock to rock with admirable address and agility. These wild goats, which are to be met with in the Isle of Candia, and several other islands of the same sea, are of the Bouquetin (Capra Ibex, Linn.), or mountain-goat species. The modern Greek'', as has been done by their ancestors, confound the Bouquetin and the Chamois under the same denomination of Wild Goat. The French habituated to the Levant also knew them by no other denomination than that of Chevre Sauvage. It is to be presumed, in fact, that Ruffen himself imagined that these two animals are not of a species different from that of the domestic goat." Linnrens, in his 'Systeme Nature,' (12th edition) gives the goat (Capra Biretta) an oriental origin ; but seems to consider it as a distinct species. Ile says of it : "Habitat in Oriente in montosis Hircus et Capra cure Hendo, victitans rannilis variis frondibusque arborum, liehenibus ; hospitatur in Europ&" lie does not mention the ifgayrtas, but gives the Ibex (Capra ltar) as a species.