252 Mr. Blyth on the Genus Ovis. 



mountains, " they reminded me," remarks that gentleman, " of Deer 

 rather than Sheep." 



The general colour of this animal, to judge from an elaborately 

 finished painting, taken from a living individual in its native country 

 by Mr. Vigne, to whom we are indebted for all we know concerning 

 the species, is a rufous brown, apparently not so deep as in the 

 Moufflon ; the face livid, or devoid of the rufous tinge of the body, 

 and not terminated by a white muzzle, as in the Moufflon Sheep : 

 the belly is white, separated by a black lateral band ; and the limbs 

 are brown, not mottled, as in the Moufflon, but with a whitish ring 

 immediately above each hoof, then a dark ring, and above this a 

 little white posteriorly, as in the Nylghau. The fringe in front of 

 the neck is doubtless peculiar to the male, and the hairs of it would 

 appear to be 4 or 5 inches long, and hang loosely. Tail about 6 

 inches long, and slender, apparently resembling that of the Armenian 

 species rather than the Moufflon's. 



A full-grown pair of horns measure 32^ inches over the curva- 

 ture, and 1 1 inches round at base ; their widest portion apart, mea- 

 sured outside, is 2 feet, the tips converging to 8 inches, and span 

 from base to tip also 8 inches : they are subtriangular, much com- 

 pressed laterally, the anterior surface 2 j inches broad at base, with 

 its side- angles about equally developed, and the posterior part of the 

 section tapers rather suddenly to a somewhat acute angle ; eight 

 years of growth are very perceptible, which successively give 12, 7, 

 4, 3, 3, 1^, 1^, and \, inches ; they bear considerable resemblance to 

 those of the Moufflon Sheep, but diff'er in being very much larger, 

 and in the circumstance of the outer front-angle being as much de- 

 veloped as the inner one ; and they have not the slightest tendency 

 to spire, but, describing three-fourths of a circle, and originally di- 

 verging as in a common Ram, they point towards the back of the 

 neck, somewhat as in 0. Tragelaphus. Another and younger speci- 

 men, however, has a decided spiral flexure outward, more especially 

 towards the tip, and has also the outer angle much less developed 

 than in the corresponding terminal portion of the former. This 

 pair had^rown to 11 inches long, with the tips 14^ inches apart; 

 only one year's growth, and that apparently incomplete, is how- 

 ever exhibited, and the curvature is likewise less than in the older 

 specimen. The portion of skull attached is also so much smaller, 

 that I think it prudent to hesitate in identifying it as specifically the 

 same. The posterior margins of the orbits are but 4^ inches apart, 

 whereas in the other they are 5^ inches. There are no materials 

 for extending the comparison, but a few more dimensions may be 

 given of the smaller one. The greatest width of this skull, at the 

 posterior portion of the zygoma, is 5 inches, and the orbits are 3^ 

 inches distant where most approximated : the series of 5 developed 

 molars occupied 2 J inches ; wddth of second true molars apart, pos- 

 teriorly and externally, 2^ inches ; of anterior false molars, measured 

 outside and before, IJ inch ; greatest width of palate 1 J inch, and from 

 front of first false molar to anterior portion of occipital /oramew, 5| 

 inches. Mr. Vigne, indeed, assures me that the adult has only five 

 grinders on each side of both jaws, as in the Chirew, which, if nor- 



