OVIS. 83 
Genl. Char. Colors pale. Skull similar to that of A. americana, 
orbits less protruding antero-inferiorly; premaxille and nose slender; 
bulle thinner; lips of posterior nares longer. 
Color. Similar to A. americana, but paler; median dark streak on 
neck, sometimes reaching shoulders; occiput whitish with median 
dark stripe. 
Measurements. Total length, 1420; tail vertebre, 145; hind foot, 
410; height at shoulders, 830 (ex Merr., 1. c.). Skull: occipito-nasal 
length, 216; breadth between outer edge of orbits, 125; width 
between orbits across frontals, 104; length of nasals laterally, 93; 
palatal arch to incisive foramina, 127; length of upper tooth row, 72; 
width of palate between last molars, 46.5; length of mandible, angle 
to alveoli of incisors, 204; height of condyle, 67; at coronoid process, 
95; length of lower tooth row, 76. Skull of old male from State of 
Chihuahua, Mexico. 
The Bovip& or Hollow-horned Ruminants form an extensive family 
in the Old World, and are very generally distributed except in Austra- 
lia. They are not represented in Central or South America, but certain 
forms are to be found in Mexico and northward to the Arctic Sea. 
One of the noblest members of the family, the American Bison, which 
at one time was found in millions on the plains of North America, is 
now practically extinct in the wild state. In this family are included 
the Antelopes, confined chiefly to Africa, in which continent a great 
number of species are still to be found. But some, which in herds 
like those of the Bison, once roamed the veldt in countless numbers, 
have disappeared before the hunter’s rifle, and many species yet 
living will meet the same fate if government protection is not 
afforded them. In America, beside the Bison, now no longer to be 
considered as among the wild animals, there are the Musk Oxen and 
several varieties of Mountain Sheep. Of these last, two varieties of the 
Rocky Mountain species are found in the northern part of Mexico 
and Lower California, and are the only representatives of the Bovide, 
south of the United States boundary. 
Fam. IV. Bovidz. Cattle, Sheep, Ete. 
31. Ovis. Sheep. 
St 8. psa I 3s 3 — 
as Cs reer eer — 32-6 
Ovis Linn., Syst. Nat., 1, 1758, p. 70; and I, 1766, p.97. Type Ovis 
aries Linneus. 
