Mr. Bly th on the Genus Ovis. 1 f)[) 



rous on the mountains of Kamtschatka, residing upon the snow-clad 

 heights in summer, and descending to the lower regions in winter. 

 A notice of its chamois-like agility occurs in the narrative of Kotzc- 

 bue's Voyage from 1823 to 1826. 



In the 18th volume of the 'Asiatic Researches,' part ii., Mr. 

 Hodgson, of Nepal, gives a figure of a horned female of the Nahoor 

 Sheep, and also of the skull and horns of a young ram, which he 

 erroneously refers to that species, as since described by him. He 

 also mentions having once possessed a pair of the horns, which he 

 " could only lift from the ground with a considerable effort ;" but it 

 is necessarjr to observe, that the description which he gives in the 

 volume adverted to, of the mutilated skin of a young wild ram, pro- 

 cured in mid winter, refers evidently to the Nahoor, and not to the 

 species with horns having a triangular section, which is the subject 

 of the present notice. According to Mr. Hodgson, the horns of 

 tliis young specimen are " equilaterally triangular," as the figure 

 likewise represents ; whereas the Rocky Mountain species would at 

 the same age have much compressed horns, far from attaining to an 

 equilateral triangle. Should a true species be here indicated, as is 

 not improbable, distinct from 0. Amnion, I propose that it be dedi- 

 cated to that assiduous investigator of Nepalese zoology, and be ac- 

 cordingly termed O. Hodgsonii. 



5. 0. Calif orniana, Douglas. The Jesuit missionary Venegos 

 observed in California " a kind of wild sheep, the size of a calf of 

 one or two years old, with extraordinarily thick horns, resembling 

 those of a common ram, and tail shorter than that of a stag," whence 

 it would appear that the Rocky Mountain sjjecies, or a near ally, is 

 here alluded to. Mr. Douglas describes the Californian Argali to 

 have a tail 18 inches long (vide Zoological Journal, iv. 332). Its 

 length, he observes, from nose to base of tail, is 5 feet 10 inches ; 

 height of the shoulder 2 feet 8 inches ; girth behind the shoulders 6 

 feet : head 16 inches long, 7 [to] between the eyes, and 9 [to] between 

 the horns : ears erect, 1^ inch [4^ inches .^] long, obtuse. The horns 

 deposited in the museum of this Society bear a general resemblance 

 to those of the Rocky Mountain species, but are smoother, and form 

 a much more open spiral : the terminal third is very much com- 

 pressed ; the medial intermediate, and the basal very thick and tri- 

 angular : they were only in their fifth year of growth, and would 

 doubtless have attained to much greater dimensions. Their length 

 is 32 inches, measured over the front ridge, and girth at base 14^ 

 inches, having a span of 12^ inches from base to tip inside ; from 

 the tip to first annual depression they measure 12^ inches, and then 

 successively 6:^, 5\, 4^, and the incipient fifth year's growth 2 inches. 

 They do not bulge between the angles, which are rather obtuse, and, 

 as usual, are transversely striated. Approximate distance of the 

 tips apart 33 inches. 



" From the testimony of the Indian tribes about the Great Falls 

 of the Columbia River," writes Mr. Douglas, " this species appears 

 to inhabit the subalpine regions of Mounts Wood, St. Helen's, and 

 \''ancouver, but is more numerous in the mountainous districts of the 

 interior of California. The only good skin that ever came under 



