V. Z Illinois State OF NIlIURllL URBANA, ILLINOIS. p.s5:;=K?c;:?^.5:^T;Kx^rs:^s5:xzT^ ^=3^ L I E) RARY OF THL U N I VLR.SITY or ILLl NOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVPV 590.5 FI v.3_ cop.o Field Columbian Museum Publication 46, Zoological Series. Vol. Ill, No. i DESCRIPTION OF AN APPARENTLY NEW SPECIES OF MOUNTAIN GOAT. BY D. G. Elliot, F.R. S. E. Curator of Department. Chicago, U. S. A. June, 1900. DESCRIPTION OF AN APPARENTLY NEW SPECIES OF MOUNTAIN GOAT. BY D. G. ELLIOT, F.R.S.E. Last autumn Mr. Vernon Shaw Kennedy of Chicago made a hunting trip to Alaska, and while there obtained a skull and scalp of a mountain, goat that had been shot by an Indian. The peculiar horns and their very unusual shape, entirel)^ different from those of the species found on the Rocky Mountains and Coast Range, together with certain differences observed in the characters of the skull, induces me to give this form a distinctive appellation, and I have pleasure in bestowing upon it Mr. Kennedy's name. OREAMNUS KENNEDYI. Type locality. Mountains at mouth of Copper River, opposite Kyak Island, Alaska. General character. Frontals much depressed in front of horn cores; nasals narrow, flat; interparietal with nearly straight anterior outline; basioccipital square; basisphenoid and presphenoid narrow, contracted, and a wide palate. Horns spreading outwards from base, and turning backwards at tips, ribbed for half the length, then smooth for remaining portion. Color. White. Horns brownish black on the ribbed portion, jet black on remainder. Skull. Superior outline highest between horn cores, descending rapidly with a concave curve anteriorly, caused by the deep depres- sion of the frontals in front of horn cores, and posteriorly with a con- vex curve to occiput; nasals flat on top, rounded slightly at posterior end, and terminating in a point anteriorly. The horn cores are con- cave (scooped out) on the inside, not rounded, and the points incline outward, causing a slight curve on the exterior lateral outline, and permitting the wide expanse that exists at the tips of the horns. The malar is long and narrow and terminates anteriorly in a somewhat 4 Field Columbian Museum — Zoology, Vol. III. lengthened pointed spur; while the lacrymal is wide for its length. The parietals are considerably depressed at the posterior base of the horn cores, forming two pits, and the interparietal is nearly straight anteriorly and entirely without the central point so conspicuous in the skulls of the Rocky Mountain goats. A considerable portion of the occipital region has been cut away, evidently to facilitate the removal of the brain. On the inferior surface, the basioccipital is almost square, slightly contracted midway. The "lips" of the foramen magnum between the occipital condyles have also been cut away. The basisphenoid is greatly contracted and very narrow for most of its length, and the visible portion of the presphenoid terminates almost in a point. The pterygoid fossa is wide for its entire length, and the palatal arch has a blunt median azygos process. Interparietals. O. Kennedy!. O. montanus. The mandible has a broad, flat condyle, and a rounded angle pro- jecting outward nearly on a line with outer edge of condyle; the hori- zontal portion slender, with only a slight curve to the inferior out- line. Coronoid process long, narrow, curving gradually backward. The horns commence to curve outward from the base, turning backwards at the tips, rather strongly ribbed for half their length and smooth for the remaining portion. Measurements. Skull: Occipito-nasal length, 273 mm. ; anterior edge of foramen magnum to anterior end of premaxillaries, 243; inter- orbital width, 75; length of frontal, 82; of nasals, 99; greatest width of nasals, 30; mastoid breadth, 79; zygomatic width, 102; width of palate between second molars, 46; length of incisive foramen, 40; height of horn core, 74; length of mandible from angle to symphasis, 217; of coronoid process, 44. Total length of horns along curve, 244; around base, 108; tip to tip, 303; this last nearly twice that of widest measurement on record. The differences exhibited between the skull of this specimen and those of the Rocky Mountain goat with which it has been compared June, igoo. New Species of Mountain Goat — Elliot. 5 are as follows: The steeper descent and great depression of the frontals anterior to the horn cores; the flatter nasals; comparatively narrower malar and its acute termination, the wider lacrymal, the straight anterior outline of the interparietal, the square-shaped later- ally contracted basisphenoid, the pointed character of the narrow pre- sphenoid and the wide pterygoid fossa and palate. The mandible differs in the more prominent projecting angle and the straighter inferior outline of the horizontal portion. The horns in their shape and set are entirely different from the eastern species, not turning backward until near the tips, but curving outward from the base. The length is nearly equal the longest on record of the Rocky Mountain animal, while the width at tips is nearly twice that ever given. ZOOLOGY. PL. I. FIELD C0LUM8UN MUSEUM. ZOOLOGY PL. O. MONTANUS. ZOOLOGY, PL. II. "lELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM t- -^ z z O UJ 5 i^ ZOOLOGY, PL. IV, ■lELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUW 0. MONTANUS.