The Zoology of North American Big Game 



appear before the upper Pliocene of Europe and 

 Asia, and even at a later date their remains are not 

 plentiful. Goats appear to have been rather the 

 earlier, but are entirely absent from America. 



The number of distinct species of sheep in our 

 fauna is a matter of too much uncertainty to be 

 treated with any sort of authority at this time. 

 Most of us grew up in the belief that there was 

 but one, the well-known mountain sheep (Ovis 

 canadensis}, but seven new species and sub-species 

 have been produced from the systematic mill within 

 recent years, six of them since 1897. .It is no part 

 of the purpose of the present paper to dwell upon 

 much vexed questions of specific distinctness, and it 

 will only be pointed out here that the ultimate 

 validity of most of these supposed forms will de- 

 pend chiefly upon the exactness of the conception of 

 species which will replace among zoologists the 

 vague ideas of the present time. Whatever the 

 conclusion may be, it seems probable that some de- 

 gree of distinction will be accorded to, at least, one 

 or two Alaskan forms. 



As sheep probably came into America from Asia 

 during the Pleistocene, at a time when Bering's 

 Strait was closed by land, it might be expected that 

 those now found here would show relationship to 

 the Kamtschatkan species (Ovis nivicola) ; and 



69 



