MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 245 



OVIS CANADENSIS NELSONI (Merriam). 

 NELSON BIGHORN. 



Oris nelsoni Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soe. Wash.. XI. pp. 217. 21s. July 15, 



1897 (original description). Miller and Rehn, Proc Bost. Sue Nat. 



Hist.. XXX. No. 1. I ><•<•. 27, 1901, p. 23 (Syst. Results Study X. Am. 



.Main, to close of 1900). 

 [Ovis cervina] nelsoni, Elliot, Field Col. Mus., Zool. Ser., II. L901, p. 46 



( Synop. Mam. X. Am.). 



Type-locality. — Grapevine Mountains, on boundary between Cali- 

 fornia and Nevada, just south of latitude 37°. (Tvpe, skin and 

 skull. No. Hltf, U.S.N.M.) 



Geographical range. — Desert ranges of mountains of southern Cal- 

 ifornia and northern Lower California, in the Western Desert Tract. 

 The habitat of this race extends from the Arid Tropical fauna at 

 sea level up to the Transition Zone on the mountains. 



Doctor Merriam's original description of this form reads as fol- 

 lows : 



Mountain sheep were found by the Death Valley Expedition in several of The 

 desert ranges of southern California and southern Nevada, where ten specimens 

 were secured by Mr. E. W. Nelson. They were killed in the northern continua- 

 tion of the Funeral Mountains, locally known as the " Grapevine Range." 

 Compared with the well-known Bighorn of the Rocky Mountains and Cascade- 

 Sierra system, they are much paler in color, somewhat smaller in size, and 

 have very much smaller molar teeth. Compared with Oris stonei, recently 

 described by Doctor Allen, the contrast in color is even more marked, hut the 

 pattern seems to he the same, and the darkening of the underparts and legs 

 is also a character of stonei. In the absence of necessary material for com- 

 parison it seems best to treat the new form as a full species. 



The geographic range of the southern Bighorn is unknown, hut it is probable 

 that all of the sheep of the semiharren desert ranges of .Mexico and the 

 southern United States from Texas to California belong to the present form. 



Tt is a noteworthy coincidence that Mr. Nelson, who in northern Alaska dis- 

 covered and named the northernmost American Sheep {Oris ilalli). should also 

 secure, in the Sonoran deserts of California, the southernmost representative 

 of the group. In view of these facts it seems peculiarly appropriate that the 

 new sheep should perpetuate Mr. Nelson's name, which 1 take pleasure in 

 bestowing upon it. 



OVIS NELSONI sp. nov. 



Type from Grapevine .Mountains, on boundary between California and Ne- 

 vada, just south of latitude 37°. No. fgfff, female adult. U. S. Xat. Mus.. 

 Biological Survey Coll. Collected June 4. 1891, by K. \Y. Nelson. Original No. 



!)42. 



General characters. — Apparently similar to Ovis stonei Allen in pattern of 

 coloration, but much paler; rump patch small and completely divided on 

 median line: tail short and slender; molar teeth very small. 



Color. — Upper parts, except rump patch, pale dingy brown: underparts and 

 legs much darker, contrasting sharply with the white areas: inguinal region, 

 hinder part of belly (narrowing to a point anteriorly some distance behind 

 fore legs), inner aspect of thighs and posterior aspect of fore and hind legs, 

 white. 



