496 



344. Ovis poll. The great Pamir Sheep. 



Ovis poli, Blyth, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 62 ; id. A. M. N. H. vii, p. 195, 



pi v fie-s 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Stoliczka, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 425, pi. liii ; 



Biddulph, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 157; id. P. A. S. B. 1879, p. 280; 



Scully, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 209; Blanford, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 320; 



W. Sclater, Cat. p. 133. 

 Ovis poli and karelini, Seeertsof, Turk. Jev. pp. 84-102, 149, 



pis. i-vi (1873) ; id. A. M. N. H. (4) xviii, pp. 171, 210, 217, 220 



(1876) ; V.SfB. Brooke, P. Z. S. 1875, pp. 512, 514 ; Blanford, 



Yark. Miss., Mam. pp. 80, 83. 



Kuchkdr J , Mesh $, Wakhan; Kulja or Gulja <$ , Arkar $, Turin 

 (E. Turkestan). 



Closely allied to 0. hodgsoni, from which this great sheep is dis- 

 tinguished chiefly by the form of the horns, partly by colour. It 

 has a white ruff" on the throat and dark crest on the nape. The 

 horns in adult males are enormous, less in girth than in 0. hodgsoni, 

 but much longer, each forming a spiral of considerably more than 

 a circle. Horns in the female compressed, very similar to those 

 of 0. hodgsoni. 



Fig. 161. Skull and horns of Ovis poli. (Guide to the Galleries of Mammalia, 

 British Museum.) 



Colour. Upper parts rather light brown or hoary brown, more or 

 less tinged with rufescent, especially towards the border of the 

 dark area, a darkish line of slightly lengthened hair from the nape 

 to the withers. Lower parts, with the fore part of the neck, muzzle, 

 chest, legs, and rump, including the tail, white ; a dark mark some- 

 times on the tail. In summer, the colour is probably darker and 

 browner. In females the neck is brown in front. 



Dimensions of an adult male with 48-inch horns : height at 

 shoulder 44 inches ; length of head 13-25 ; from horns to tip of 

 tail 62 ; tail with hair 5-5, without 4 ; length of ear in front 4'75 ; 

 girth round chest 51-5 (Stoliczka). Basal length of a good skull 

 12-7, breadth across orbits 7'5. Females are not much smaller 

 than males. Good horns of rams measure 50 to 60 inches round 

 the curve and about 15 in girth at the base, the extreme recorded 

 measurements being 75 and 16-75. Severtzoff estimates the 



