198 Sheep 



dark stripe from the back of the head to the root of the tail. Height at 

 shoulder ranging from 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 8 inches. 



Ovis karelhu was first described upon the evidence of specimens 

 obtained from the Alatau, north of Lake Issik Kul in the Semirechinsk 

 Altai, the translation ot Severtzoff's original description running as follows : 

 "The horns are moderately thick, with rather rounded edges; frontal 

 surface very prominent ; orbital surface rather flat, narrowing only in the 

 last third of its length. The horns are three times as long as the 

 skull. . . . The neck is covered by a white mane shaded with grayish- 

 brown. The light brown of the back and sides is separated from the 

 yellowish-white of the belly by a wide dark line. The light brown of 

 the upper-parts gets gradually lighter towards the tail, where it becomes 

 grayish-white, but does not form a sharply defined anal disk. On the 

 back there is a sharply marked dark line running from the shoulders to 

 the loins. I did not find any soft hair under the long winter hair in 

 October. . . . Height at the shoulder 3 feet 6 inches ; length of the 

 horns from 44 to 45 inches." 



This description obviously applies to animals in the winter coat. 



In the continuation of his memoir SevertzofF states that the same sheep 

 inhabits all the neighbourhood of Issik Kul, to the south of which it is 

 met with, although not very commonly, on the northern flanks of the 

 Thian Shan, which are more or less wooded. Now during the sojourn 

 of the Second Yarkand Expedition at Kashgar numerous large sheep were 

 brought in, which were in the winter dress and had been transported from 

 the Thian Shan, apparently in a frozen condition. Although described by 

 Dr. Stoliczka as the true Ovis poli^ they were subsequently identified by Sir 

 V. Brooke with the O. karcUm of Severtzoff, and from the locality whence 

 they came, and their general agreement with the description of the 

 latter, there can be little hesitation in accepting the identification. Dr. 

 Stoliczka's description of the coloration of the male is as follows: "General 



