Page:Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (IA journalofacademy01acaduoft).pdf/22

12 body is entirely covered with long pendent hair, silky and totally white, but not curled; the head is elongated, without a muzzle or naked part, the ears of a middling size; the forehead not protuberant; the horns are short, tolerably thick, black, slightly annulated, they are round, almost straight, bent backwards, and terminated in a blunt point (pointe mousse); the legs are short, stout, and supported on short and thick hoofs; the tail is hardly perceptible, perhaps on account of the length of the hair. M. de Blainville inclined to the opinion that this animal is the same as the Pudu of Molina, Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. ii. p. 392.

It is probable that the specimen belonging to the Linnean Society is of the same species as that brought by captain Lewis; and it is further probable that M. de Blainville was not permitted to examine his subjects as closely as was requisite, otherwise the important circumstance of the thick coat of wool, beneath the outer covering of straight hair, would not have escaped his attention. As to the horns being obtuse, this may have arisen from an accident, or some other cause.

It is much to be wished that some traveller would bring a living speciment of this singular quadruped, or at least a dead specimen in such a state as should enable the naturalist to determine, with precision, its characters. From the information derived from captain Lewis, and from the descriptions above, we cannot, with propriety, arrange this animal with the Antelopes; and if it should not prove to be a true Ovis, it will, probably, constitute a new genus, and take its station, in the systems, between the sheep and the goat.