220 UNGULATES. 



splendid sheep are the Chang-Chenmo valley and the neighbourhood of the Pang- 

 kong lake, and thence into Chinese Tibet. A wild hybrid between a male of this 

 sheep and a female of the under-mentioned urial, was shot in Zanskar, and described 

 as a distinct species under the name of 0. brookei ; while there is also a record of 

 a hybrid between the male urial and the female nyan. 



A fossil argali occurs in the forest-bed of the Norfolk coast, and 

 remains of other species have been obtained from the superficial 

 deposit of the continent. 



THE PAMIR WILD SHEEP (Ovis poli). 



Although discovered by the great Venetian traveller as long ago as the latter 

 part of the thirteenth century, it is only since the year 1873 that the great Pamir 

 wild sheep has been fully known to science. In that year it was described by the 

 Russian naturalist Severtzoff, under the name of Karelin's sheep (0. karelini); 

 while specimens of the skin and horns obtained during the second expedition to 

 Yarkand, under the late Sir Douglas Forsyth in 1873-74, were soon afterwards 

 received in England. It is true, indeed, that the species was named by Mr. E. 

 Blyth in 1840, but it was then only very imperfectly known. Since 1873 our 

 knowledge has advanced rapidly; and this magnificent sheep has been shot by 

 two Englishmen Mr. St. George Littledale and Major C. S. Cumberland who 

 travelled to the Pamir for the express purpose of securing skins and horns. 



The Pamir sheep, although furnished with longer horns, does not appear to 

 attain quite such large dimensions as the Tibetan argali, from which it is mainly 

 distinguished by the form of the horns, and also by coloration. In the male the 

 horns, when viewed from the side, are seen to form a spiral of about a circle and 

 a quarter ; and when adult they are much longer than those of the argali, but are 

 less massive at the base. In fine specimens the horns may measure from 50 to 60 

 inches in length along the curve, with a basal girth of about 15 inches : a specimen 

 has, however, been recorded measuring 63 inches in length, while one pair attained 

 the enormous length of 73 inches, with a basal girth of 16f inches ; and another 

 75 inches, with a girth of 16 inches. Females, as shown in our illustration, have 

 small upright horns like those of the female argali. The colour of the fur on the 

 upper-parts of the rams is light brown, with a more or less marked reddish tinge ; 

 but there is a dark line of longer hair extending from the nape of the neck to the 

 withers, which in the female is sometimes continued as a stripe down the back. 

 The muzzle, together with the fore-part of the neck, the chest, the under-parts, the 

 rump inclusive of the tail, and the legs, are white. The patch of white on the 

 rump is of irregular contour ; and sometimes, as in our figure, there may be a small 

 black mark on the upper surface of the tail. In summer it is probable, according 

 to Mr. Blanford, that the colour is darker and browner. The ewes differ by the 

 absence of any white on the throat. In addition to the long hairs on the nape of 

 the neck, the old males have a more or less marked ruff on the throat. In an adult 

 male measured by Mr. Blanford, in which the horns had a length of 48 inches, the 

 height at the withers was 3 feet 8 inches, and the length from the horns to the tip 

 of the tail 5 feet 2 inches, of which 5J inches was taken up by the tail itself. As 



