250 AMERICAN ARGALI. 



zoologists more particularly to the subject, and its 

 spoils have since been transmitted to Philadelphia 

 and London. 



The species live in flocks, consisting of thirty or 

 forty, and are headed by an experienced leader. 

 They bound swiftly along the ridges of high moun- 

 tains, and, during summer, prefer the highest peaks, 

 but descend into the plains when their usual haunts 

 are wrapt in snow and visited by hurricanes. If 

 the American species be the same as the Asiatic, 

 their ancestors must have passed over the ice at 

 Behring's Straits. This passage may be conjectured 

 as comparatively of recent date, since the argali 

 have not spread eastward beyond the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, nor northward further than California. 



Little is known with certainty respecting the 

 general characteristics, the habits or mode of life, 

 among the American argali. We shall therefore 

 briefly add to this short notice by observing that 

 along the neck of the argali runs a stiff and robust 

 cartilage, braced from the head to the middle of 

 the back, and designed to assist in supporting the 

 weight of the head. Armed with strong horns, the 

 head of the argali is a heavy weight, acting at the 

 end of a long lever, and in a direction nearly per- 

 pendicular to the joints of the supporting neck. 

 The bones of the neck would consequently be in 

 danger of dislocation, were it not for this admirable 

 provision, which is also found in the necks of all 

 large quadrupeds, but never in the human subject; 

 evidently because man, who carries his head erect, 

 does not require any assistance of the kind. We 

 may also conclude that the eyes of the argali are pro- 



