The PASENG is the wild Goat of Western Asia; it is also found on the northern side of the Caucasus and in some of the islands of the Ægean. In height the male measures two feet and three-quarters at the withers, the female being nearly six inches less. In the male the horns may measure as much as four feet in length. They are flattened, slender, curved backwards as part of a large circle, having their points turned sometimes inwards, so much so as now and again to cross, whilst at others they are directed outwards. Along their anterior edges are protuberances, separated by a greater distance as they approach the tips, indicative of the age of the animal, as after the third year a fresh knob is formed in each succeeding one. Mr. Danford, who has made a special study of the species, remarks, with reference to the reputed use to which their owners turn their immense cranial appendages, that “regarding the use of the great horns carried by the Ibex family, the general idea among the older authors was that they were employed to break the animal’s fall in leaping from a height. Pennant relates that Monardes was witness to the wild Goat saving itself in this way; and Gesner says: ‘Cadens ab alto totum corpus inter cornua protegit a collisione et ictus lapidum magnorum excipit cornibus!’[4] This view is confirmed by Mr. Hutton, whose tame Aegagrus [Paseng] repeatedly used his horns for this purpose. I made many inquiries among the native hunters, and they all agreed in saying that the horns were never so used, or for any purpose except fighting; and the result of my own observations is, that during the leap the head is carried as far back as possible, though it may be that the situations in which I observed the animals did not necessitate the employment of the horns in the way referred to.” The horns of the female are not more than a foot long, the knobs being almost obsolete. Unlike its consort, also, it has no beard. The general colour of the species is grey, shaded with reddish-brown. A blackish-brown line extends from the similarly coloured forehead along the spine. [Illustration: MARKHOOR.] The MARKHOOR, or “Serpent Eater,” of North-east India and Cashmere, is a fine Goat of larger size than the Ibex, with much-flattened triangular horns, which, while running upwards from the head, are spiral and attain an immense size, sometimes as much as five feet along their curve. The spiral twist is much more open in some specimens than in others, depending on the locality in which they are found. The body colour is a dirty light blue-grey, the lengthy beard being of a darker colour. It inhabits very similar localities to the Ibexes and is very shy.