OVIS. 



135 



" m " in the list, in the other skulls it seems to get 

 rather sharper as the skull gets younger, so that the 

 sharpness or roundedness of the nuchal edge appears 

 to be a character due purely to age. 



(2) In all the Museum specimens the orbital surface is flat or 



even rather convex, never concave. 



(3) In the two Pamir specimens the length of the horns are in 



both cases considerably more than four times the 

 length of the skull, and in the Thian Shan specimens 

 the largest is considerably less. This character, how- 

 ever, seems to be due to the fact that both the 

 Pamir specimens were selected ; being chosen from 

 among many others seen lying about on the Pamir on 

 account of the size of their horns, while the specimens 

 from the Thian Shan were shot and brought into the 

 mission so that heads of only average size were got. 



(4) The axes of the horns can hardly be considered a charac- 



ter of much value as has also been shown by Blanford 

 torn. ciL, since in the case of one head from the Thian 

 Shan range the horn on one side is very much more 

 horizontal than that on the other. 



(5) With regard to the cones formed by the horn spiral as far 



as it is possible to judge, in both Pamir and Thian 

 Shan species, the cone has its base towards the skull. 



(6) Neither premaxillae, maxillae or lacrymals really articulate 



with the nasals, in all cases they are separated by a small 

 piece of bone which generally drops out of the skull. 



(7) The lacrymals are not square nor are they wider than the 



malars in any of the skulls in the Museum Collec- 

 tion. 

 There are only skins of the Thian Shan form in the Museum ; 

 there are no skins of the true Pamir forms, as far as I am 

 aware, in any European or other Museum ; with regard to our 

 skins — 



(8) The mane is pure white below and laterally; dorsally, 



in all cases but one, it is mixed with gray ; the one 

 exception being what appears to be the oldest 

 animal 



(9) In none of the skins can a dark brown lateral line be seen 



separating the light brown of the back from the dirty 

 yellow of the belly. 

 (10) The white patch on the tail is very well marked in all 

 the skins except the old male mentioned above, where 

 the change of colour is not so abrupt. 

 In the females there is Httle or no mane and the anal patch 

 neither marked nor large. 



The above I think is sufficient to justify the combination of 

 the Pamir typical forms and Thian Shan specimens brought back 



