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



0. Karelini inhabits all the Semiretchje Altai and also the 

 Sapliskj Altai, but is not so common there as it is in the 

 mountains between Turgeli and Kaskelen ; it has been lately- 

 driven out of the latter locality by the Cossack sportsmen, 

 and has gone to a higher elevation, namely the Kebin steppe 

 above the range of trees. East of Turgeli, on the bare moun- 

 tains and plains near the rivers Chilik and Keben, 0. Karelini 

 is still very abundant, except in localities which are covered 

 with trees, extending from Chilik as far as Lantash. Further, 

 it inhabits all the neighbourhood of Issik-kul ; it is rather 

 rare on the northern part of the Thian-Shan, which is thickly- 

 covered with trees. I also met with numerous flocks in tlie 

 steppes of the Narin, where they find such an abundance of 

 food on the meadows and shelter among the rocks ; these 

 localities are about 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the sea-leveh 



0. Karelini is sometimes also met with on the mountains 

 separating the Narin from its tributary the Atpash, as far as 

 the plains between the rivers Kurtka and Chatir-kul ; but 

 from the eastern sources of the Atpash down as far as the 

 Chatir-kul it is only found in company with 0. Polii. 



0. Karelini does not inhabit the rocks and mountains 

 exclusively, like the genus Capra ; it is also not satisfied, like 

 the latter, with the small tufts of grass on the rocks, but wants 

 more extensive feeding-grounds, and is therefore driven out of 

 certain localities more easily than is the case with Capra. In 

 the neighbourhood of Copal, for instance, goats are abundant 

 in the central steppes of Kara, whilst the sheep have been 

 driven out from these places and only visit them late in 

 the autumn. In places where good meadows and rocky 

 places are found, sheep can be met with at any elevation from 

 about 2000 or 3000 feet in the southern portion of the Semi- 

 rechje Altai, near the river Ilia, to about 10,000 feet at the 

 rivers Lepsa, Larkan, Kora, Karatala, and Koksa, and even 

 to 11,000 or 12,000 feet in the neighbourhood of the Upper 

 Narin. They are found at a much lower elevation in winter, 

 whilst in the summer they withdraw again to the highest moun- 

 tains. I do not know if the sheep which are so abundant 

 in the hills on the western shores of the river Chu, opposite 

 the Tokmack, belong to the present species or to 0. Heinsii. 



Ovis Polii. 



This species was founded upon horns obtained by Wood at 

 the sources of the Amu-Darja, on the high plains near Lake 

 Serikul, at an elevation of about 16,000 feet — consequently 

 about the same locality where Marco Polo mentions that he 

 met with some large wild sheep. To the same species 



