560 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



"In the Cilician Sheep the terminal portion of the horns are bent 

 boldly upwards .... The fronto-orbital edge is not distinct, ex- 

 cept at the base .... The females are hornless." (Danford and 

 Alston, 1880, pp. 55, 58.) Length of horn on outside curve up to 

 30i inches (Ward, 1935, p. 296) . 



Sushkin (1925, p. 148) gives the range of anatolica as "Cilician 

 Taurus; Bulgar Dagh; Ala Dagh; and probably Anti-Taurus." 



Danford and Alston (1877, pp. 276-277) give the following ac- 

 count (under the name of Ovis gmelini} : 



Common in many districts of the interior, particularly about the salt lakes 

 in the Vilayet of Konia. It is also found in the elevated plain of Palanga, 

 above Marasch, and thence ranges east and north to Kurdestan and Armenia. 

 It is somewhat remarkable that Danford could find no trace of this animal 

 either in the country to the north of the Ala Dagh or on the wide-reaching 

 grassy plateau between Kaisariyeh and the Black Sea. 



It seems hardly ever to occur on the southern slopes of the Taurus, pre- 

 ferring the barer districts of the north. . . . 



Specimens were obtained from the district of Eregli, where they are common, 

 and frequent the salt-licks in large flocks. . . . The severe winter of 1873-74, 

 which was so fatal to the tame breeds of Sheep, also destroyed a great number 

 of the wild species. 



Gmelin's Sheep is a very graceful animal, deer-like in its appearance, having 

 long fine limbs, and in the male a thick bushy throat. 



Carruthers (1915a, pp. 10-16) writes of it as follows (under the 

 name of Ovis orientalis gmelini) : 



The difficulties encountered [in hunting it in Asia Minor] are owing chiefly 

 to the nature of the ground, also to the gradual curtailment of "wild" country 

 by increasing domesticated flocks. The habitat of the sheep consists of rolling 

 downs, without breaks, with smooth, even sky-lines; also always utilized by 

 the native shepherds and their flocks. The result of this is a most phenomenal 

 shyness and an extreme wariness on the part of the game. . . . 



This comparatively arid region [the interior of Asia Minor] has its own 

 peculiar fauna, amongst which is an exceedingly beautiful little wild sheep 

 (or mouflon) .... The traveller . . . will come into the westernmost haunts 

 of the mouflon in the neighbourhood of Konia. . . . 



There is a large area of country here [the plateau basin of inner Anatolia, 

 north and east of Konia] which one would consider suitable for wild sheep, 

 yet their range is very circumscribed. In 1913 ... I traversed the north- 

 eastern portion of the plateau between the Anti Taurus, Kaizariyeh and 

 Angora. We never found traces of mouflon, nor could even find natives who 

 knew of them by name. . . . Konia was once the centre of a large area of 

 country inhabited by mouflon, for they ranged from the north-eastern slopes 

 of Sultan Dagh, south of Akshehr, to Boz Dagh and other small ridges on 

 the plains of Axylon [lat. 39 N., long. 32 E.]. In these days the mouflon are 

 almost driven out of the western portion of this area .... 



From the Boz Dagh they range over all the country to the south and east. 

 In the little hills within sight of the railway between Karaman and Eregli 

 Mr J. H. Miller has seen them in numbers ; while in the foothills of the main 

 Taurus, to the south of the railway, in the same locality, several travellers 

 have successfully hunted them .... These mouflon confine themselves, for 



