The Shapo, or Urial 



than in any Salt Range urial in the collection, and are 

 also raised into a number of knobs, but there is no 

 decided tendency to an out-turning of the tips, although 

 the spiral is rather open. It is practically certain that 

 the specimen is racially distinct from the true urial 

 of the Cis- Indus districts. On the other hand, the 

 urial head shown in fig. 13 has a decided outward 

 turn of the tips of the horns, and, in fact, appears 

 to be very similar in this and other respects to the 

 type of O. blanfordi. The specimen, which belonged 

 to the late Major F. H. Taylor, is stated to be 

 from " the Punjab," and there is accordingly nothing 

 to prevent its having come from the Trans - Indus 

 districts. This race probably enters Southern Persia. 



As regards the third race of the species, namely, the 

 true urial (O. v. cycloceros) of the Salt Range and other 

 hills of the Cis -Indus districts of the Punjab, this 

 appears to be a smaller and redder animal than either of 

 the preceding, with the horns forming a very close 

 spiral, and showing no tendency to turn out at the tips, 

 while their front angles are not prominent, and the 

 anterior one is often more or less rounded off. 



Finally, we have the Kopet-Dagh urial (O. v. arkal), 

 from the range dividing Persia and Turkestan and 

 the Ust-Urt plateau to the west of Lake Aral,^ in 

 which, as exemplified by a skull presented by Mr. 

 St. George Littledale to the British Museum, the front 

 surface of the horns is very broad and nearly flat, with 

 few transverse wrinkles, but very prominent front 

 angles. Sheep apparently referable to this race have 

 been obtained by Major R. L. Kennion on the north 

 side of the Elburz Range. 



In the shapo or urin of Ladak and Astor the 

 height reaches to as much as 36 inches at the withers ; 

 while the horns of old rams are massive at the base and 



1 Dr. Satunin, Mitteil. Kaukas. Miis., vol. ii. p. 375, 1906, restricts O. v. 

 arkal to the Ust-Urt sheep, and proposes the name O. v. '-varentsonxii for 

 the Kopet-Dagh sheep. 



lOI 



