65 



outwards and forwards ; the upper and posterior portions of the horn 

 are level, and marked with deep annual indentations, which success- 

 ively measure 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, and I|, inches, making eight years 

 of total growth ; besides which, there are numerous minor indenta- 

 tions or ordinary cross-striae, but no protuberant intervals.' From 

 the figure they would seem not to bulge between the angles, as is 

 usual, though not invariably the case, with the Rocky Mountain 

 species ; as also to be somewhat more tensely spiral, as if puUed a 

 little outward. The appearance both described and figured at the 

 base of the fore-limbs externally, I suspect to be nothing more than 

 the axilla, that had been twisted outwards in the mounting of the 

 specimen. M. Eschscholtz describes this animal to be very nume- 

 rous on the mountains of Kamtschatka, residing upon the snow-clad 

 heights in summer, and descending to the lower regions in winter. 

 A notice of its chamois-like agility occurs in the narrative of Kotze- 

 bue's Voyage from 1823 to 1826. 



"In the 18th volume of the 'Asiatic Researches,' part ii., Mr. 

 Hodgson, of Nepal, gives a figure of a horned female of the Nahoor 

 Sheep, and also of the skull and horns of a young ram, which he 

 erroneously refers to that species, as since described by him. He 

 also mentions having once possessed a pair of the horns, which he 

 ' could only lift from the ground with a considerable effort' ; but it 

 is necessary to observe, that the description which he gives in the 

 volume adverted to, of the mutilated skin of a young wild ram, pro- 

 ■ cured in mid winter, refers evidently to the Nahoor, and not to the 

 species with horns having a triangular section, which is the subject 

 of the present notice. According to Mr. Hodgson, the horns of 

 this young specimen are ' equilaterally triangular,' as the figure 

 likewise represents ; whereas the Rocky Mountain species would at 

 the same age have much compressed horns, far from attaining to an 

 equilateral triangle. Should a true species be here indicated, as is 

 not improbable, distinct from 0. Amman, I propose that it be dedi- 

 cated to that assiduous investigator of Nepalese zoology, and be ac- 

 cordingly termed 0. Hodgsonii. 



"5. 0. Californiana, Douglas. The Jesuit missionary Venegos 

 obsen^ed in Cahfornia ' a kind of wild sheep, the size of a calf of 

 one or two years old, with extraordinarily thick horns, resembling 

 those of a common ram, and tail shorter than that of a stag,' whence 

 it would appear that the Rocky Mountain species, or a near ally, is 

 here alluded to. Mr. Douglas describes the Californian Argali to 

 have a tail 18 inches long (vide Zoological Journal, iv. 332). Its 

 length, he observes, from nose to base of tail, is 5 feet 10 inches ; 

 height of the shoulder 2 feet 8 inches ; girth behind the shoulders 6 

 feet : head 16 inches long, 7 [to] between the eyes, and 9 [to] between 

 the horns : ears erect, \\ inch [4| inches ?] long, obtuse. The horns 

 deposited in the museum of this Society bear a general resemblance 

 to those of the Rocky Mountain species, but are smoother, and form 

 a much more open spiral : the terminal third is very much com- 

 pressed ; the medial intermediate, and the basal very thick and tri- 

 angular : they were only in their fifth year of growth, and would 



