73 



circumstances of restraint, is well known ; but we have no informa- 

 tion of hybrids, or Umbri, as they are called, being ever raised from 

 wild Moufflons, though the flocks of the latter will occasionally graze 

 in the same pasture with domestic sheep, and all but mingle among 

 them. The male of this animal is denominated in Corsica il/<{/»-o, and 

 the female Mufra, from which BufFon, as is well known, formed the 

 v/ord Morifflon : and in Sardinia the male is called Murvoni, and the 

 female Murva, though it is not unusual to hear the peasants style 

 both indiscriminately Mufion, which (as Mr. Smyth remarks in his 

 description of that island,) is a palpable corruption of the Greek 

 Ophion. It is sometimes stated, but I do not know upon what au- 

 thority, that a few of these animals are still found upon the moun- 

 tains of Murcia. 



" 12. The Cyprian Moufflon, figured and described by Messrs. 

 Brandt and Ratzeburg from a specimen in the Berlin Museum, and 

 contrasted by them with M. F. Cuvier's figure of the Corsican animal, 

 is probably a distinct species, intermediate to 0. Musimon and O. 

 Gmelinii : its horns have more the curvature of those of the latter 

 species, but are not so robust, and curve round gradually backward 

 from the base, instead of at first diverging straightly, as in O. Gmelinii ; 

 but the colour of the coat would appear to resemble that of the Cor- 

 sican Moufflon, only without the rufous cast, and the specimen 

 figured wants also the saddle-like triangular white patch, which is 

 seldom absent in the Moufflon of Sardinia and Corsica. The Da- 

 cjelaphus of Belon, it is true, observed by that author in Candia and 

 in Turkey, is described by him to have ' horns similar to those of 

 Goats, but sometimes gyrated like those of a Ram' ; yet the fact of 

 a nearly similar flexure of horn to that represented by Messrs. Brandt 

 and Ratzeburg, proving to be of normal occurrence in the allied Ar- 

 menian wild Sheep, confers additional probability on the supposition 

 that the BerUn specimen of the Cyprian Moufflon has also normally 

 curved horns, which alone would go far to establish its claim to rank 

 as a species, in which case it might bear the appellation of 0. Ophion. 



" 13. 0. : Ixalus Prohaton, Ogilby. I stated in my former 



paper an opinion, to which I am still disposed to adhere, that this 

 animal is no other than a genuine sheep, but specifically distinct 

 from any at present known : the specimen had long lived in cap- 

 tivity, as is obvious from the manner in which its hoofs had grown 

 out ; but whereas I formerly sought to account for its absence of 

 horns, by ascribing this to probable castration at an early age, I am 

 now inclined to consider that this abnormity — for such there is every 

 reason to suppose it — was individually congenital, as in other rare 

 cases before alluded to. The Armenian wild Sheep approaches more 

 nearly to this species than any other as yet discovered ; so much so, 

 that before actually comparing them I thought that they would prove 

 to be the same ; but they are nevertheless distinct, as is particularly 

 shown by the longer and less slender tail of the present animal, and 

 the very diiFerent texture of its coat : the absence of dark markings 

 on its face and limbs may prove to be an individual peculiarity. The 

 specimen is of the size of a large tame Sheep, and entirely of a 



