678 U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



the horns. These, in the argali, appear to be more widely divergent at the base. The 

 horns, too, in the old animal, after coming forwards after their curve backwards, have the ends 

 curving gently upwards and then bent quite abruptly outwards, so that the distance between the 

 tips of the horns measured across the forehead is about 32 inches, (possibly 26 in a straight 

 line). The length of the horn around the curve is about 47 inches. In the bighorn there is 

 only a slight outward twist of the horn, the tips of which are not distant more than 18 inches, 

 (or 20 in the California variety,) while, though the larger animal, the horn measures only 36 

 inches. These peculiarities will be readily appreciated in comparing the wood cuts given above 

 with Pallas' figure. 



While considering the bighorn as distinct from the argali, I am far from considering it the 

 same with the Kamtschatkan Ovis nivicola of Eschscholtz, as asserted by most authors. It is 

 with the argali that the latter is to be compared, both having the same peculiarity of an excessive 

 twist outwards and upwards of the ends of the horns, which also curve over a greater number 

 of degrees. Judging from the figure of Eschscholtz, the tips of the horns must be at least 

 three feet apart, instead of the 20 inches of our species. All -these peculiarities are those of the 

 argali ; and without pretending to decide whether the Kamtschatkan and Siberian species are 

 the same, I will only state that they are so considered by Pallas, who gives the measurement, 

 description, and figure of a young ram from Kamtschatka in the article quoted above. The 

 same remarks will apply, in great measure, to the supposed horn of 0. montana, figured and 

 described by Middendorff, as referred to above. I am far from admitting that any of our North 

 American mammals occur in eastern Asia, unless it be Spermophilus parryi, although some 

 authors have attempted to prove an identity for the beaver, the brown bear, the sable, the large 

 marmot, as well as the large sheep. 



Excluding Asia from the area occupied by the bighorn, as I think we have abundant reason 

 to do, its range extends from the region of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and the high grounds adjacent to them on the eastern slope, as far south as the Rio 

 Grande. They are not found to any considerable distance east of the Black Hills, however, 

 although said to be abundant in the Mauvaises Terres. Westward, they extend as far as the 

 Cascade and Coast ranges of Washington, Oregon, and California, and follow the high lands 

 of the mountains some distance into Mexico. 



