Or. X. Severtzoft'ow the Mammals of Turkestan. 1 73 



of tlic skull remain unauclivloscd ; and this, althou^li not 

 so easily as iii youii;;; sj)i'fiin('iis, oan he seen also in the 

 oldest individuals. 'I'he general shape of the skull, again, 

 j)n'sents plainer dilferenet-s in adult animals in which the bones 

 of the skull are already anchylosed. 



All the wild sheep of Turkestan belong to one systematic 

 and (^eoj^raphical group, which forms a genus not yet esta- 

 blishe(l in science. 



For doing this some general characteristics are required in 

 the systematic classification of the sheep. 



These sheej), as is well known, bcdong to the Cavicornia, 

 and, together with the genus ( V/y;ra, form a very natural group, 

 Linnanis iirst established the two genera Capra and Ovis ; 

 afterwards, however, Pallas, having found between them an 

 intermeiliate s])ecies (his Aujoceros ammon, or A. Pallas{i\ 

 KiHiill.) with characters })eculiar to both the above mentioned 

 genera, joined the two in one family o{\E<joceros. Afterwards 

 they had to be separated again, and with very good reason. 

 I think, however, that the generic nam^i oi' yl^rjoceros ought to 

 be retained, though not in Pallas's meaning, and used for the 

 species -^-i/. rt7/»/<o«, which is as distinct from Capra as Ammo- 

 traijus (Oris) frai/flap/ms is from the genus Oris. 



The latter genus I divide into two by the form of the liorns: — 

 1st, the north-easter)i group of sheep, including the Turkestan 

 species and the domestic Oris aries ; and, 2nd, the southern 

 and western sheep will form the genus 3hisi man, characterized 

 by the nuine of its typical form. 



I. The typical form for the genus Oris, taking it in the 

 above restricted sense, is 0. arcjaJi, Pall. The churacters of 

 the genus are the following : — The horns gradually diverge 

 from each other tow^ards their points, whicli latter have an 

 inclination outwards. 



II. Musimones. The horns diverge from each other only to 

 a certain length (not alike in all species) ; consequently the 

 ends of the horns bend inwards again and a])[)roach one another. 

 The form of the axil spiral is not so regular as is the case 

 with Oris. 



So that the genus Musfmon consists of a certain number of 

 species, the horns of which do not quite agree with the above 

 described normal form of the genus Ovis. The edges of their 

 horns, which are spiral-shaped, are usually twisted on the 

 right horn to the right hand and on the left to the left hand. 

 The animals are usually much smaller in size than the true 

 Ovis, the length from the tip of the nose to the tail being 4 to 

 4^ feet. The following species belong to this genus: — Musimon 

 musimon, of the mountains of Corsica and Sardinia; M.cuprius, 



