ti4B Mr. Blyth on the Genus Ovis. 



this frequently occurs with the Algae without the species being 

 changed, though there have been botanists who have described 

 Confervae in the red and green states as different species. 



M. Turpin also, in a new treatise, has derived the green and 

 red colour of water, snow, earth, wood, marble statues, etc. etc. 

 from green and red Protococcus globules, which, according to 

 .his idea, are true plants ; but he has evidently observed them 

 only in the passive state. (^ Quelques observations nouvelles 

 sur les Protococcus, qui colorent en rouge les eaux des marais 

 salants.^ — Comptes Rendus de 18 Nov., p. 626.) 



XXXI. — An Amended List of the Species of the Genus Ovis. 

 By Edward Blyth, Esq. [With a Plate.] 



[Concluded from p. 201.] 



7. 0. Burrhel, nobis. Smaller and more robust than the Na- 

 hoor, with shorter ears, and very dark horns ; having no white upon 

 it ; and general colour dark and rich chestnut-brown, with the ordi- 

 nary black markings upon the face, chest, and front of the limbs 

 very distinct ; tail apparently minute. 



This handsome species bears pretty much the same relationship 

 in appearance to the Nahoor, which the English breed of South 

 Down domestic sheep bears to the Leicester breed, except that there 

 is not so much difference in size. Length of the unique stuffed spe- 

 cimen in the museum of this Society, from nose to tail, 54 inches, 

 but a foot less would probably give the dimensions of the recent 

 animal, as the skin is evidently much stretched ; height of the back 

 32 inches, from which also about 2 inches might be deducted ; from 

 muzzle to base of horn 8 inches, and ears 3J inches. The horns 

 measure 20 inches over the uppermost ridge, and 10 round at base, 

 having their tips 25 inches apart ; but those of a specimen noticed 

 in the 'Bengal Sporting Magazine' (for 1839, p. 295) were 25| 

 inches long, with a girth of llj inches; and a horn of this same 

 species, which I examined at Mr. Leadbeater's, had attained a length 

 of 2 feet, and circumference of 1 1 inches at base, having a span of 

 14 inches from base to tip inside, and numbering at least ten indi- 

 cations of annual growth, and probably at least one more towards 

 the tip, which could not be made out with certainty. The respective 

 lengths of these were successively lOj, 2^, 2^, 1|, 1:|:, Ij, 1, 1, |, 

 and the basal ^, inches. The coat of the Burrhel Sheep is rather long, 

 and harsher than that of the Nahoor, having less wool concealed 

 beneath it than in the Moufflon and Rocky Mountain species. The 

 female is undescribed, and I have met with no other specimens than 

 are here mentioned. 



In the description of the jjreceding species, the principal differ- 

 ences are stated which distinguish the horns of that animal from those 

 of the present one. The Burrhel's horns have all the ridges rounded 

 off, though still sufficiently distinct, and the marks of annual growth 

 are deeply indented, the horn buiging a little between them. Upon 

 a front view, the backward curvature of the tips disappears altogether. 



