Appendix 281 



species is replaced on its southern flanks by the Armenian 

 wild sheep. The above-mentioned Elburz race of the 

 latter shows signs of approximations towards the urial 

 type ; and with the evidence afforded by the mouflon 

 horns forming the proper subject of this communication, 

 it would not surprise me to find that Oms vignei and 

 0. orientalis (=gmelini) intergrade. 



(5) LETTER FROM AUTHOR. 



Before this can reach London, no doubt Mr Lydekker 

 will have set at rest the question whether the sheep I 

 shot on the northern slopes of the Elburz are urial or 

 belong to some other species of wild sheep. I should 

 have mentioned the locality more precisely in my original 

 letter, for the term Elburz (being, I believe, unknown in 

 Eastern Persia, where the range merges into the Paropa- 

 misus) is apt to be misleading. The nullahs I was shoot- 

 ing in were some draining into the Gurgan river, which 

 itself flows into the Caspian. Though the animals were 

 certainly of the urial type, as I previously mentioned, 

 they seemed to me bigger beasts, and I shall be surprised 

 if this is not borne out by cranial measurements. 



As regards the statement that urial, which occur on 

 the northern side of the Elburz, are replaced by the 

 Armenian species on the southern flanks, I would point 

 out that an animal, indistinguishable from the urial, is 

 found in most of the hills of Eastern Persia. I have 

 myself shot them in Kain, and in the hills north-east 

 of Meshed. The last-named locality must, I should 

 think, from a zoological point of view, be called the 

 " southern slopes of the Elburz " (though the drainage 

 is actually to the north), while the former is, of course, 

 a good deal south of the Elburz. 



