MAMMALS. 



283 



Mr. C. L. McKay. They comprise a skin of au adult male and one of au adult female aud the 

 horns and scalp of a secoud female. In the following table the proportions of Mr. Nelson's speci- 

 mens are compared with those of a specimen of the normal variety from Montana: 



Mr. McKay's specimens, from the Chigmit Mountains, present the following proportions. 

 13652 and 13653 are flat skins : 



Nos. 



If any conclusion is warranted by these few data, it is, perhaps, that the Alaskan sheep is con- 

 siderably smaller than its southern relative, aud that it carries to the extreme the variations in the 

 shape of the horn (extension and decrease in diameter at the base), observable in northern exam- 

 ples of the normal variety, 0. canadensis (fi/picus). 



It would be iuteresting to know the southern limit reached by Ball's sheep.* 



List of spccimev.s. 



Biographical notes. — The discovery of this tine animal is oue of the most valuable results of my 

 work in the north. It is limited to the higher mountaiu rauges of the Territory, except iu the 

 extreme northern jiortiou, within the Arctic Circle, where it ranges down nearly to the sea-level. 

 Following the main i-auge of the liocky Mountains it is found iu the southeastern part of the 

 Territory and north along these mountains to the point whe.re the chain swings to the west, and 

 along its western extension, kuowu as the Ahislcan range, it is numerous nearly to the head of 

 Bristol Bay. In this portion of the inouutuius Ball's Sheep is found upon the Pacific sloi)o as well 

 as on the northern side. I could not learn of its occurrence on the peninsula of Aliaska, although 

 some individuals may be found there. 



' See a letter by Lieuteuaut Alleu ou the Rumiuauts of the Copper Eiver Region iu Scienee, vol. vii, p. r.7. 



