160 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA. 



Sheep are mainly inhabitants of Central and North-Eastern Asia, one 

 species just entering the Punjab. In Europe two or three kinds are found 

 in the Mediterranean regions, and there is one in the north of Africa, but 

 no other throughout the whole extent of that continent ; while a single 

 species inhabits North America. The largest and finest of the group are 



the argalis of Central Asia, and 

 amongst these the most magnificent 

 is the Pamir-sheep (0. poll), whose 

 horns are characterised by their 

 double twist and outward direction. 

 In the true argali (0. ammon) of 

 the Altai, and the closely-allied O. 

 hodgsoni of Tibet, the horns, al- 

 though more massive, are shorter, 

 and form bub a single curve. In 

 these species the wrinkles on the 

 horns are strongly marked, but in 

 the bighorns, of which one species 

 (0. canadensis) inhabits the high- 

 lands of western North America, 

 Fig, 89 -PAMIR-SHEEP (Ovispoli). while the second (0. nivicola) is 



found on the opposite side of 



Behring Straits in the Kamschatkan Peninsula, these wrinkles are much 

 less developed, and the depression below the eye in the skull is less deep. 

 Another group, in which the horns, although well wrinkled, are smaller than 

 in the argalis, is represented by the sha (0. vignei) of the inner Himalaya, 

 Persia, and certain ranges of the Punjab (where it is known as the urial), as 

 well as by the Armenian sheep (0. gmelini) of Asia Minor and Persia, the 

 smaller but closely allied 0. ophion of the island of Cyprus, and the mouflon 

 (0. musimon) of Sardinia and Corsica, easily distinguished by the saddle- 

 shaped mark on the back ; the three last-named kinds being further 

 characterised by the absence of horns in the ewes. The two remaining 

 species, as already said, differ from all the foregoing in their comparatively 

 smooth and olive-coloured horns, and the absence of a gland below the eye 

 and a depression in the skull for its reception. Of these the bharal (O. 

 nahura) is a Tibetan form, with short, bluish-grey fur ornamented with black 

 markings ; while the arui (0. tragelaphus) of the mountains of Northern 

 Africa differs from all the others in possessing a fringe of long hair on the 

 fore-quarters, and likewise by the greater length of the tail. It is a 

 remarkable fact that nearly all the wild sheep are short-tailed animals, and 

 have fur instead of wool ; but, although it is difficult to explain the origin of 

 the long tail of the domesticated breeds, it is noteworthy that certain African 

 races have the fleece partaking more of the nature of fur than of wool. In 

 habits sheep much resemble goats, the young males and females associating 

 in large flocks, from which the old males often disassociate themselves, 

 except during the breeding-season. Both groups are exceedingly wary 

 animals, and both are inhabitants of mountain regions ; but whereas goats 

 always restrict themselves to rocky and more or less precipitous districts, 

 wild sheep may be often found on open, undulating, grassy ground like ~the 

 Pamirs. 



Nearly allied to the sheep is the somewhat larger ruminant commonly 

 known as the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), which may be compared roughlv 



