580 History of ANIMALS.

male and female have them ; they are straight to very near the top, where they are

bent back in the shape of a hook, and are sharp at the ends; they are of a very darkbrown, nearly approaching to black, and are annulated on the under part, and longi-tudinally striated on the upper ; they are hollow, and the cavity is filled up by a bonymatter growing from the skull.

The neck is moderately long and slender; the breast fall, broad, and well formed ; thebody is not very bulky : the legs are slender and long; the whole body is covered witha deep fur, waved, and somewhat curled at the inner part of the ears; the forehead,the throat, and the belly are white : the tipper part of the head, over the eyes, has oneach side an oblong spot of yellow : the whole body beside is of a blackish colour,not bright and glossy, but obscure; the tail is blacker than the rest, and it is blackon both sides, not white underneath, as in many animals of this genus.

This is a native of many of the warm climates, and has been described by mostof the writers on animals. They call it Rupicapra ; the French , Chamoife ; and theGermans , Gempe, or Gems. The hooked form of the tips of the horns, in this spe-cies, has given occasion to the error of supposing it hangs by them to the rocks, andto many other tales equally absurd and ridiculous.

Capra tornubus nodosts in dorstum reclinatis.

The Capra, with nodose horns bending towards the bach.

This is a very beautiful animal, but in nothing so singular as in the length of it’s

horns: the head is small, and beaqtifully formed ; the eyes are large and bright; theears are patulous; the nose is obtuse, and the nostrils wide: the horns are of a sur-prising length, they hang backward, and often extend considerably beyond the rump,being more than equal to the neck and body in length : they are of a blackish colour,and annulated on the surface.

The body is not so large, in proportion to the height, as in the common goat, butmore resembles the deer-kind ; the legs are also perfectly like those of the deer, straight,slender, and elegant; the hoofs are blackish : the whole body is of a* dark dusky co-lour, and the male has a very long and bushy black beard.

This is frequent in many parts of Europe ; it lives in mountainous places, and, not-withstanding the incumbrance of that vast length of horns, it runs and leaps with a

surprising force and rapidity. Most of the writers on quadrupeds have described it.They call it the Ibex and Rupicapra; the Germans , Steinbock.

Capra cornubus teretibus dimidiato arcuatisy annulatis .

The Capra , with the horns cylindric , and half way arched.

Many of the goat-kind approach to the deer in shape, but none so much as this; it

is a very beautiful creature : the head is small, oblong, and obtuse; the eyes are large >the ears are patulous, and the nostrils wide : the horns are of an extreamly singularfigure ; they are not of any great length ; they stand in an erect position, but are notstraight, for toward the middle they are turned or bent outwards, and from thence tothe top they bend inwards, so that they in some degree represent the lyre of the an-tients: they are of a coal-black colour, and seen ornamented with a spiral twist, but

the lines are in reality circular: the neck is slender, and elegantly turned, and islonger than in the generality of the goat-kind : the body is rounded, and not verythick, but the breast is broad and beautiful: the legs are very slender, and the hoofs

divided in the manner of those of the goat, and black.

This is a native of Africa, and is a very swift and bold animal; it will attack al-

most any thing in it’s defence. Most of the writers on animals have named it. Theycall it Capricerva, Dorcas Lybica, and Strepsicoros Plinii. We have it sometimes keptin parks, but it is apt to be mischievous.

Capra