326 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON HEADS OF OVIS POLL [May 20, 



93. Botys graphitalis, Snellen, Tijdschrift v. Ent. 1874, p. 199, 

 t. 11. f. 9. 



94. Crambus, sp. 



95. Cydosia nobililella, Walker. 



The collection contains about eight other species ; but the 

 specimens are in such poor condition that I cannot with any certainty 

 make them out. 



May 20, 1884. 

 Sir Joseph Fayrer, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. W. T. Blanford exhibited a series of heads of Ovis poll, and 

 made the following remarks : — 



I am indebted to the Hon. Charles Ellis, who has recently 

 returned from Yarkand, for the opportunity of exhibiting by far 

 the finest collection of Ovis-poli heads that has, I believe, ever been 

 brought to Europe. The whole of the specimens were obtained near 

 Sarikol, in the south-eastern part of the Pamir tableland. The 

 original locality whence Ovis poll was obtained is a few marches 

 further west. 



The details given by Sir V. Brooke and Mr. B. Brooke in their 

 paper, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 509, " On the large Sheep of the Thiau 

 Shan, and the other Asiatic Argali," appear to show that the only 

 known essential distinctions between Ovis poll, Blyth, and Ovis 

 Jcarelini, Severtzoff, are in the form of the horns. A translation of 

 the principal characters given by Severtzoff in his work on the fauna 

 of Turkestan ' is furnished ; and the other distinctive characters are 

 the larger size of O. poll, and some slight differences in external 

 coloration, which are shown by the specimens examiued by Messrs. 

 Brooke not to be constant. According to Severtzoff the lachrymal 

 bone in the skull of O. poll is more developed than in O. Jcarelini, 

 and there is said to be a difference in the proportional growth of 

 different parts of the skull ; but it may fairly be questioned whether 

 these distinctions are of specific value. The difference in size is 

 more important : Ovis Jcarelini is said to be 5' 10" to 6' long and 3' 6" 

 high at the shoulders ; O.poli 6' 7" long and 3' 10" high ; but a similar 

 difference is found in races of other wild Ungulates, e. g. Capra 

 cegagrus. The most important distinction is, however, in the horns. 

 Those of O. poll are longer, and diverge much more on each side of 

 the head, so that the extreme distance between the tips, measured in a 

 straight line, is much greater compared to the actual length of the 

 horns round the curve, and to the other dimensions of the animal. In 

 four adult specimens of O. karelini of which the measurements are 



1 For a complete translation see Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 1876, ser. 4, vol. xviii. 

 pp. 171, 210, 212, 217, and 220. 



