Siberian Argali 125 



four specimens, three of which were obtained by Mr. Littledale and the 

 fourth by Captain H. J. Elwes. The measurements of these four mag- 

 nificent examples are as follows : — 



Length along Front Curve, Basal Circumference. Tip to Tip, 



62i i9f 3H 



62 19 38I 



64 i9i 39i 



595 19A 3H 



The argali in Siberia is one of the many animals whose range has been 

 greatly curtailed within modern times by incessant persecution on the 

 part of man, and the Cossacks are said to be responsible for the disappear- 

 ance of this fine sheep from the greater portion of Eastern Siberia, where 

 it appears to have been once common. Probably the range of this sheep 

 once extended continually from the mountains in the neighbourhood of 

 Lake Baikal, in the south of Eastern Siberia, through the north of 

 Mongolia to the Semipalatinsk Altai, where it is still fairly abundant, and 

 is met with on a plateau varying in elevation from about 6000 to 10,000 

 feet above sea- level. In Northern Mongolia, where, as in Siberia, it 

 frequents lower levels, it is likewise locally abundant. 



So many accounts of the habits of this argali have been published, that 

 but little need be said on the present occasion. Of travellers who have 

 recently visited its haunts. Captain J. H. Elwes, in his narrative of a 

 journey in the Altai published in the Journal of the Linncean Society for 1899, 

 says scarcely anything about this sheep. Prince DemidofF, on the other 

 hand, in his work entitled After Wild Sheep to the Altai and Mongolia, has 

 much interesting information to impart on this subject. 



In that volume will be found an account of the stalking by Mr. 

 Littledale of a flock of ten old rams, the horns of one of which, as 

 measured on the spot, were stated to be 60 inches in length along the 

 curve. The pair in question is doubtless one of those mentioned in the 

 table above, after more accurate dimensions had been taken. Far more 



