2o6 Sheep 



From all the large sheep described above, the bighorn, with its various 

 races, is easily distinguishable at a glance by its much smoother horns, 

 and by the more or less conspicuous caudal disk being divided by the 

 dark line running trom the brown of the back to the tail ; the white 

 markings on the legs are also very characteristic. A closer examination 

 will reveal the minute and almost rudimentary condition of the glands below 

 the eyes and the depressions of the skull in which they are contained. 

 All the above features indicate an approximation from the argali type in 

 the direction of the bharal and the goats. 



Much still remains to be done in working out the various modifications 

 ot the bighorn type, as the specimens in the British Museum are quite 

 insufficient to permit of this being accomplished at present. Although 

 there are several more or less distinct and definable forms of bighorn inhabit- 

 ing the North American continent, all these appear best regarded, quite 

 irrespective of whether or no they intergrade, as geographical modifica- 

 tions of a single well-marked specific type. Another bighorn is met 

 with in Kamschatka and other districts of North -Eastern Asia, and 

 although this animal is markedly distinct from the typical bighorn of the 

 Rocky Mountains, yet the wild sheep from Alaska and other districts in 

 the north-west of the American continent show such a marked approxima- 

 tion in the characters of their horns, as well as in certain other features, 

 to the Asiatic bighorn, tliat it seems preferable to include the latter 

 within the limits of the same species. It must, however, be understood 

 that there is no evidence of gradation between the Alaskan and Kams- 

 chatkan bighorns, and that the latter, as might have been expected, is 

 more distinct from all the American forms than these are from one another. 

 Additional information is urgently required with regard to the white 

 bighorns, of which specimens have been received both from Alaska and 

 Kamschatka, as it is not yet determined whether the white coat is merely 

 a seasonal phase. Turning to nomenclatural considerations, the reasons 



