MAMMALS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 346 



The Indian gazelle, O bennettii — the Chinkara — the horns are short and 

 not lyrate. Female horned. Habitat. — From India through Baluchistan 

 and to the shores of the Persian Gulf. 



Palestine gazelle. G. gazella — bright chestnut on forehead and nose. 

 Habitat Syria. 



In all these the bright chestnut on the nose and forehead is quite dis- 

 tinct from the facial colouring of the Samarra masks. 



The horns of the Samarra gazelle are more delicate than any now in the 

 National collection and I am of opinion that it will prove a new species of 

 which the Females are hornless. In this Mr. Oldfield Thomas agrees. As 

 it will probably be allied to G. subgutturosa, the goitre like swelling on the 

 throat of the males during the rutting season, should be looked for and 

 noted. It would also be of value to know if the hornless females from 

 Samarra and the horned females from lower Mesopotamia are constant 

 features. 



37. Ovis LARiSTANicA, Nas. 



1909. Ovis laristanica, Nasanov, Bull, Ac. Sci. St. Petersb. p. 1179, 



Laristan Red Sheep. 



1 S imm, Baktyari, W. Persia. Scott, June 29, 1911. 



1 <S imm. no locaUty. . Arthur. Reed . Bombay, ol-3-19 



This material is insufficient for any but provisional conclusions. 



The nearest described species of wild sheep are Ovis orientalis ispaha- 

 nica, Nasanov, type locality Ispahan, and Ovis laristanica, Nasanov, type 

 locality Laristan, S. Persia. 



There are no Specimens of either in the National collection. Lydekker 

 in his " Catalogue of Ungulate Mammals," Vol. 1, p. 83, 1913, provisionally 

 allows the Laristan sheep specific rank. 



I have had the advantage of seeing an excellent series recently col- 

 lected by Hotson in Baluchistan and Shiraz, which has been sent to the 

 British Museum for identification, by the Bombay Natural History Society. 

 This, in my opinion, links the Red Sheep of the Push-ti-koh with that of 

 Afghanistan, the type locality of the Afghan Unal, Ovis vignei cydoceros, 

 with which the specimens from Baluchistan and Shiraz agree. 



The difference between the two groups, Ovis orientalis and Ovis vignet, are 

 well marked in typical adult specimens. 0. orientalis, Red Sheep, has hornless 

 females and the curve of the horn of the male if continued from the end 

 points over the shoulder. In 0. vignei, the Urial, the females have small 

 horns and the horn of the male curves forward, the ponit being m front ot 

 the eye. The subspecies of both are separated chiefly on size, and 

 geographically. in i a • 



The Ovis orientalis group, type locality Cyprus, extends through Asia 

 Minor and Transcaucasia to Persia. A subspecies on the Elburz Mountains 

 has been named 0. o. erskinei. ^ , , 



The Ovis vignei group, type locality Astor near Gilgit, extends tlirou^n 

 the Salt Range, Punjab, to Afghanistan, where we have the subspecies 

 0. V. cydoceros to which the specimen from Baluchistan and Shiraz are ax 

 present referred, as they have the typical horn of the viynei group and 

 the females are horned. , , , ^^ , , „„„„:,„ona 



It seems unlikely that in face of the facts revealed by Hotson s spec'™«"« 

 that a subspecies of the group with hornless females /ho"Jd crop up at 

 Ispahan, therefore Nasanov's Ovis orientalis ispahamca should be acceptea 

 with caution until a confirmatory series of specimens is forthcoming trom 

 that locality. 

 20 



