82 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON WILD SHEEP FROM [Juiie 3, 



The horns themselves are of a more massive and less elongated 

 type than those of 0. poli, and also markedly distinct from those 

 of the variety 0. p. karelini, of the western Thian-Shan, in which 

 the front outer angle is, at least frequently, bevelled ofi". On the 

 other hand, they are less massive and considerably more open 

 than those of 0. ammon, and therefore very much more so than 

 in the Tibetan 0. a. hodgsoni. In 0. ammon the surface next the 

 "face tends to look upwards, whereas in the present form its 

 tendency is to look downwards. A more easily recognized 

 difference is that in 0. am,mon the horns are greatly " nipped in " 

 just below the eyes, in consequence of which the transverse 

 diameter across the eyes is very much less than it is higher up. 

 In the present form, on the contrary, the horns are actually wider 

 across at the level of the eyes than they are at the line of the 

 crown of the head. 



Such a " nipping in " is not apparent in 0. ammon hodgsoni, in 

 which the surface next the face is nearly vertical ; and much the 

 same is the case with the Sheep from the Saiar (or Jair) Moun- 

 tains I have named 0. sairensis \ In fact the Sheep vmder 

 considei'ation appears to bear somewhat the same relationship to 

 0. sairensis, so far as the curve of the horns is concerned, as is 

 presented by 0. ammon to 0. a. hodgsoni, although the extreme 

 openness and basal elevation of the spiral are unique. There are 

 other differences (especially as regards the wrinkles) of the horns 

 of the Hi Argali from those of the Siberian 0. ammon, sufficiently 

 apparent when the specimens are seen side by side, but almost 

 impossible to describe. 



With 0. sairensis (PI. YII. fig. 2) the head of the Hi Wild 

 Sheep agrees very closely in general coloration, both forms having 

 the forehead dark and the muzzle white ; the white being, however, 

 somewhat purer in the latter. The same type of face- coloration 

 was presented at the time of its death by an Argali from the 

 Altai or Thian-Shan, recently living in the Society's Menagerie, 

 and figured when quite yovmg (at which time the face was wholly 

 dark) by the Secretary" as 0. ammon. As I have elsewhere 

 remarked ^, that specimen differed from the typical ammon by the 

 presence of a large white ruff on the chest ; such a white ruff 

 being also present in the winter coat of the Hi Sheep. As the 

 Society's Argali was nearly full-grown at the time of its death, it 

 appears to me very unlikely that it would ever have developed a 

 uniformly whity-brown face (especially as 0. sairensis has the 

 face parti- coloured in youth as well as in the adidt) ; and I am 

 therefore inclined to think that it belonged to some form of the 

 last-named species. 



The Hi Sheep is a considerably larger animal than the typical 

 0. sairensis, but (if colour be any ckie to affinity) seems to come 

 nearer to that species than to any of the named forms which can 



1 'Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats,' p. 185 (1898). 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1899, pi. viii. 



3 ' Great and Small Game of Europe, &c.,' p. 124 (1901). 



