75 



character of its horns, though differing in one particular, besides 

 size, that has been pointed out; namely, that the two front angles 

 are about equally developed ; whereas in 0. Aries, as in the Moufflon, 

 the inner angle is more acute to near the base. Some experience in the 

 deduction of the specific characters of sheep-horns enables me to state 

 with confidence, that the normal character of the long-tailed domes- 

 tic breeds of Europe, and also of most other breeds, is intermediate 

 to that of the Rass and that of the Moufflon, combining the flexure 

 and the prolongation of the former with the section of the latter, 

 but becoming proportionally broader at the base than in either ; more 

 as in the Argalis of Siberia, Kamtschatka, and North America. 

 That 0. Aries is totally distinct from all, I have been long perfectly 

 satisfied, and examination of the Rass in particular has strongly 

 confirmed me in this opinion. I think it likely, however, that more 

 than one wild species have commingled to form the numerous do- 

 mestic races, though certainly not any that have been described in 

 this paper. It is not very long since the question was habitually 

 discussed, whether the tame Sheep had descended from the Argali 

 of Siberia or the Moufflon of Corsica ? and now that so many more 

 decidedly distinct wild species have been added to the catalogue of 

 this genus, it is probable that we are still very far from having as- 

 certained the complete existing number, but that several more yet 

 remain to be discovered upon the lofty table-lands and snowy moun- 

 tains of middle Asia, from the Caucasus and Taurus to the Altai, 

 and among them, it is very probable, some much more nearly allied 

 to the domestic races than any at present known. 



" The whole of the foregoing animals appertain to my subgeneric 

 group Ovis, as distinguished from Ammotragus, which latter is cha- 

 racterized by the absence of suborbital sinuses, like the Goats, but 

 differs from the latter by possessing interdigital fossa, as in other 

 Sheep. This difference between the Goats and Sheep appears to 

 have been first noticed by Pallas, and has since been descanted upon 

 by Prof. Gene in vol. xxxvii. of the Memorie della Reale Academia 

 delle Scienze di Torino. The fact of such a diversity in genera 

 so nearly eJlied in habitat as the Goats and Sheep, renders the pro- 

 blem of the utility of the structure in question somewhat difficult of 

 solution. The species upon which I found the subgenus Ammotra- 

 gus, has decidedly an Ovine, rather than a Caprine aspect, when 

 viewed alive : the male emits no stench, as in the Goats ; the bleat 

 is precisely that of Ovis, and the animal butts like a Ram, and not 

 like a Goat. Unlike the other species of admitted wild Sheep, as 

 well as the long-horned or true wild Goats, it has a concave chaf- 

 firon, and no markings on the face and limbs : its tail is rather long, 

 which is the case in no species of Capra, and is also remarkable for 

 being tufted at the extremitj^. The indigenous habitat, North 

 Africa, is a further peculiarity in the genus in which it is here 

 placed, though two species of wild Goats respectively inhabit Upper 

 Egypt and the snowy heights of Abyssinia. 



"15. 0. Tragelaphus, Pallas: the African Goat-Sheep. This 

 animal appears to vary considerably in size, some exceeding a Fallovf 



