74 



chestnut fulvous colour, dull white beneath and within the limbs, 

 as also on the lips, chin, lower part of the checks, and at the tip of 

 the tail. From nose to base of tail it measures about 50 inches, — 

 the tail half a foot, and height of the back 2^ feet. From nose to 

 rudiment of horn 9 inches, and ears 4 inches : the vestiges of horns, 

 which exactly resemble those found upon many breeds of tame Sheep, 

 are 2 inches apart. Upon the minutest examination of the specimen, 

 I can perceive no character whatever to separate it from the genuine 

 Sheep, nor any distinction more remarkable than the trivial cir- 

 cumstance of its chaffron not being bombed, as usual, which how- 

 ever is equally the case with 0. Tragelaphus. I have been favoured, 

 however, by Col. Hamilton Smith with a drawing of an animal ob- 

 served by himself on the banks of the Ilio St. Juan in Venezuela, 

 which appears to accord so nearly with Ixalus Prohaton, except in 

 the particular of bearing horns similar to those of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Goat, that its absolute identity is probable, in which case it 

 would be curious that a species so very nearly allied to the genus 

 Ovis should yet differ from it so considerably in the character speci- 

 fied. The South American animal adverted to is the Aploceros 

 Mazama of Col. Smith, and is probably congenerous with the Pudu 

 of the Chilian Andes mentioned by Molina, (the existence of which 

 would appear to have been lately re- ascertained by M. Gay,) and 

 also with the fossil Antilope Mariquensis of Dr. Lund : there would 

 indeed appear to be other living species of this type, more or less 

 distinctly indicated by different authors. 



" 14. O. Aries, Linnaeus : the Domestic Sheep. Assuming that dif- 

 ferent species have commingled to produce this animal, as appears 

 to be very evident in the instance of the Dog, it is still remarkable 

 that we have certainly not yet discovered the principal wild type, or 

 indeed any species with so long a tail as in many of the domestic 

 breeds, which I cannot doubt existed also in their aboriginal pro- 

 genitors : nothing analogous is observable among the endlessly di- 

 versified races of the domestic Goat, which all appear to have been 

 derived exclusively from the Caucasian C. jEgagrus ; and as in my 

 former paper I suggested the probability that a wild Sheep more 

 nearly resembling the domestic races than any hitherto discovered 

 would yet occur somewhere in the vicinity of the Caucasus, it now 

 appears that such an animal does exist in central Persia, as noticed 

 in my description of O. Gmelinii : nor should it be forgotten that 

 Hector Boetius mentions a wild breed in the island of St. Kilda, 

 larger than the biggest Goat, with tail hanging to the ground, and 

 horns longer and as bulky as those of an Ox"*. Pennant remarks 

 upon this subject, that such an animal is figured on a bas-relief, 

 taken out of the wall of Antoninus, near Glasgow. 



" Of all the wild species of true Ovis that have been here de- 

 scribed, the Rass of Pamir approaches nearest to 0. Aries in the 



* Two crania of sheep, apparently male and female, from the Irisli peat, 

 in the possession of the Earl of Enriiskillen, and exhibited some time ago 

 at a meeting of the Geological Societj', are probably of this race. 



