Fig. 174.—Thar. Capra jemlaica. × 1⁄10. (From Nature.)
Ovis nahura is chiefly responsible for the impossibility of strictly separating the Sheep and Goats. It has no suborbital glands or lachrymal fossae, which are as a rule present in the Sheep and absent from the Goats. On the other hand interdigital glands are present, which is the case with Sheep. Its habits, too, are a blending of those of the Sheep and the Goat. It lives largely on undulating ground like Sheep, and frequently lies down during the day on its feeding ground. On the other hand it is, like the Goats, a splendid climber.
The Goats, genus Capra, differ from the Sheep in their slighter build and in the fact that the horns are not spirally curved, but arched over the back. There is also the characteristic beard,
and the male is odorous. The true Goats are almost exclusively Palaearctic in range. They show the limited distribution of the Sheep, a distribution which follows from their mountain-loving habits.
Fig. 175.—Sinaitic Ibex. Capra sinaitica. × 1⁄10.
Thus we have the Spanish Ibex (C. pyrenaica), limited to the Pyrenees and other mountain ranges of the peninsula; C. ibex, the Steinbok of the Alps and the Tyrol; the Markhoor, C. falconeri, of certain mountain ranges of Afghanistan; the Caucasian, Sinaitic, and Cretan Ibexes, and the Thar.
Capra aegagrus, the Persian Wild Goat, ranges from the Caucasus to Sind. It is this animal which produces the true "bezoar stone." The substance in question is a secretion apparently found in the stomach. It is still, according to Mr. Blanford, regarded as an antidote to poison in Persia. Buffon called this Goat the "Pasan," which is evidently a corruption of the word bezoar. When the substance was in repute as a medicine of the "alexipharmic" kind, the supply naturally came up to the demand. Thus the bezoar stones of the Lama in South America gained repute, and there were "Oriental bezoar, cow
bezoar, hog bezoar, and monkey bezoar"! As concretions of one kind or another are not uncommon objects in the alimentary tract of mammals it was easy enough to obtain a fair amount of some substance which was sure to sell well. It is said that a stone weighing four ounces was once sold in this country (or at any rate in Europe) for £200.