Dr. N. Severtzoff on the Mammals of Turkestan. 217 



been dragged there by wolves, which, as well as the vultures, 

 feed on the flesh and skeletons of the dead sheep. The vul- 

 tures only eat the flesh on the skulls ; but the wolves gnaw otf 

 the nasal portions, where the bones are thinner. Sometimes, 

 but not often, complete skulls are found. 



These skulls also show when the breeding-season of the 

 animals commences. In June the skulls look old, and in 

 October still older ; but in October I also found one skull 

 which had not yet become white, and was marked with 

 blood : consequently this is the time when the breeding-season 

 begins, which very likely lasts also through the month of 

 November. In October a specimen of 0. Polii, killed by me, 

 had very large and full testes ; but I am sorry to say that, 

 because of the hard frost, I could not make a microscopical 

 examination of the semen. 



In Karatau I saw in June thTough a telescope a female 0. 

 mgrimontana, the only sheep that occurs there, with a young 

 one, which must have been born in spring; and consequently 

 the rutting-season takes place in the autumn. 



The above remarks apply to all the species of Turkestan 

 sheep which inhabit the mountain-ranges, with the exception 

 of wooded districts. 



I will now proceed to give more exact descriptions of the 

 new species of sheep inhabiting Turkestan. 



Ovt's KareUni. 



I have named this species after the worthy explorer of 

 Central Asia — who was also the first to obtain specimens of 

 this sheep, in the Ala Tau, near Semiretchje, about 1840, 

 These specimens have, up to the present, been considered 

 identical with 0. argali. I separated it from the latter on 

 comparing ray two complete specimens, and three others, 

 which were brought by Karelin, with the true East-Siberian 

 0. argali^ of which latter the Moscow University Museum 

 possesses one complete specimen and three skulls. 



The three surfaces of the horn of 0. KareUni are convex, 

 the orbital surface not so much so, however, as the two others. 



The edges are rounded, particularly the fronto-nuchal one, 

 so much so that it can hardly be called an edge. The frontal 

 and nuchal surfaces do not form an angle where they meet at 

 the base, but run into one another in a curve ; but a little 

 above the skull the horns get their regular triangular shape. 

 The orbital surface of the horns is only once and a half as 

 wide as the line drawn from its centre towards the fronto- 

 nuchal edge ; and the nuchal surface is wider than the frontal 

 one, but not so wide as the orbital surface. The risine: 



