596 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



described as 0. storcki that specimens "are very hard to get, as they 

 are found only in the central range of mountains in the northwestern 

 portion of Kamchatka." 



Carruthers writes (1915, p. 190) : 



They are common at 3,000 to 4,000 feet on the ranges in the interior during 

 the summer months, but probably all migrate seawards in winter. . . . 



The existence of sheep is only known of in the vicinity of the Avatcha 

 Bay, on which Petropavlovsk lies, and around the extinct volcano of Kam- 

 chatskaia Vershina which Demidoff and Littledale visited. They are said to 

 be numerous on the coastal range to the north and south of Petropavlovsk. 



In 1921 Burnham (1929, p. 134) had a report that sheep were still 

 very abundant at Cape Shipunski; also that many were to be seen 

 along the Kamchatka River. 



Although Bighorns are ordinarily such sure-footed animals, even 

 they seem occasionally to fall victims to the precipitous nature 

 of their environment. Guillemard (as quoted by Lydekker, 1898c, 

 pp. 225-226) tells of witnessing the fatal slip of one of them over 

 the edge of a Kamchatkan precipice. 



Allen's Bighorn 



Ovis NIVICOLA ALLENI Matschie 



Ovis alleni Matschie, in Niedieck, Kreuzfahrten im Beringmeer, p. 236, 1907 

 (English translation, p. 226, 1909). (Based upon a specimen (No. 18212, 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.) figured by J. A. Allen (1904, pp. 295, 296, figs. 3, 6) 

 as Ovis borealis (?); type locality, 1 "Taiganose Peninsula, N. E. Siberia" 

 (approximately lat. 61 N., long. 161 E.).) 



SYNONYM: Ovis middendorfi [properly, middendorffi] Kowarzik (1913). 



FIGS.: Middendorff, 1853, pi. 12, fig. 1; J. A. Allen, 1904, pp. 295, 296, figs. 3, 6; 

 Burnham, 1929, pis. facing pp. 121, 128 (subsp.?). 



At the beginning of the present century this sheep was reported 

 as common, but in the meantime its numbers have dwindled con- 

 siderably. 



The name alleni was based upon a figure of a skull with horns. 

 The horns apparently are more divergent than those of nivicola, 

 and do not form quite such a complete circle; their length along 

 the outer edge is 730 mm., and the spread at the tips is 453 mm. 

 The description of the pelage given by J. A. Allen (1903, p. 131) 

 is apparently a composite one, based upon specimens from the 

 Taiganos Peninsula and from Baroness Korf Gulf, which are not 

 necessarily identical. 



Sushkin (1925, p. 150) gives the range as "Taiganos Peninsula; 

 Kolyma Range; and Djugdjura Range." (The last-mentioned range 



i This type locality may, however, be erroneous. In a previous publication 

 J. A. Allen stated (1903, p. 130) that specimen No. 18212 came from Baroness 

 Korf Gulf, which is situated at the eastern base of the Kamchatka Peninsula. 



