44 MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 



climbs rocks and precipices with as great ease as a Wild Sheep, to 

 [Cases w ^ich it is more allied than to the Ox tribe. 



47-52. J The Sheep form a small group, well characterized by their thick, 



heavy, and transversely-ridged horns, curved spirally outwards, 

 and by their peculiar physiognomy, quite distinct from that of all 

 their allies. Some of the wild species are as large as a donkey, 

 and their horns are of enormous weight and strength. The 

 specimens are placed in the large Case against the north wall of 

 the Saloon, on the top of which are also some of the finest pairs of 

 horns, the remainder being arranged in the Osteological Gallery. 

 The most worthy of note are: The Wild Sheep of Cyprus (Ovis 

 ophiori) ; the races inhabiting the Alpine ranges and plateaus of 



Fig. 17. 



Marco Polo's Sheep. 



Central Asia (Ovis poll, Ovishodgsoni, Ovis ammon, Ovis cyclocer os) '> 

 of the first of these (Ovis poll), besides those in the case in the 

 Saloon, a particularly fine series, shot and presented by St. George 

 Littledale, Esq., are exhibited in the Central Case near the entrance 

 to the Gallery ; the Wild Sheep of Kamtschatka and North-western 

 America (0. nivicola) ; the Bighorn of North America (O.cana- 

 densis); the Mufflon of Corsica and Sardinia (O . musimon) ' } the 

 Burrhel (O. nahurd] ; and, finally, the very peculiar, long-haired, 

 long-bearded Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus tragelaphus),vi\t\\ horns 

 quite different both in character and direction from those of all its 

 allies. Of the horns exhibited, by far the finest are those of Marco 

 Polo's Sheep (O.poli), of the Pamir Plateau, Central Asia, of which 

 the tips of the two horns are 56 inches apart, while each horn 

 measures along the curves 64 inches, and describes more than a circle 

 and a quarter when viewed from the side. Still larger examples are 

 placed in the Osteological Gallery above. The habits of the different 

 Sheep are all very similar : they live in highlands, some of the 



