374 MAMMALIA—SHEEDP. 
of adeer. Several naturalists of eminence have considered it as forming 
but one species with the argali; and Cuvier supposes that 1t may have 
crossed Bhering’s Straits on the ice. It resembles the argali indeed, per- 
fectly in its manners, in the form of its bodv, and in the nature and color 
of its hairy coat; but it seems to be a larger animal, and to present u 
constant difference in the form of curvature in its horns. 
‘ 
THE ARGALI,,.OR WILD SHEEP, 
an) Se ae 
, SSMS 
AS Sev ery etl 
is an inhabitant of rocky and mountainous regions, and is principally found 
in the Alpine parts of Asia. Dr Pallas observed this species existing 
throughout the vast chain of mountains extending through the middle 
oi that continent to the Eastern Sea. 
These animals have large horns, arched semicirculariy backward, and di- 
vergent at their tips, wrinkled on their upper surface, and flattened beneath ; 
on the neck are two pendant hairy dewlaps. This creature is about the 
size of the fallow deer. It is of a gray ferruginous brown color above, and 
whitish beneath. The face is also of a whitish hue; and behind each of: ° 
the shoulders a dusky patch or spot is often discovered. In the European 
variety, the legs are generally white. The head exhibits much resemblance 
to the ram; but the ears are considerably smaller in proportion to its size. 
The body is large; but the neck and legs are slender, and the latter are 
very strong. The tail is very short, being seldom more that three inches 
in length. The horns in the adult, or full grown animal, have much the 
appearance of those of the common ram. This animal has hair instead 
of wool, thus greatly differing from the general aspect of the sheep; but the 
face, in winter, and especially that part about the tip of the nose, becomes 
whiter; the back is of a more ferruginous cast: and the hair, which is close 
— 
1 Qvis ammon, Lin. 
