WILD SHEEP OF THE UBMI ISLANDS. 375 



The horns are bent outwards in a regular curve, describing a 

 semicircle, without any trace of that spiral twist at the extremity 

 which seems to be constant in the adult Cyprian Mouflon ; in 

 fact the whole of their posterior surface, which is broad and flat 

 (or partly concave), lies in the same plane ; and the horns are so 

 little turned backwards, that this plane would make an angle of 

 about 70° with a plane vertically bisecting the cranium. The 

 horns measure round the outer curve 500, round the inner 305 

 millim., their circumference round the base being 190 millim. 

 and the distance from tip to tip 360 millim. They are re- 

 markably flattened and compressed in a vertical direction, with 

 an obtuse upper and a sharp lower ridge ; a fronto-orbital 

 ridge, which I observe to be still very distinct in O. gmelini 

 and O. cycloceros^ has nearly disappeared on the left horn, 

 and is very obtuse near the base of the right horn. A trans- 

 verse section through the left horn about two inches from 

 the base would represent one half of an irregular oval (fig. a 

 on Plate 22), and one about the middle of the horn would be 

 still more compressed (fig. h). The end of the horn is almost 

 knife-shaped. The transverse wrinkles are blunt, coarse, and 

 rather distant. Besides these transverse wrinkles, there are at 

 irregular intervals five deep grooves penetrating through the sub- 

 stance of the horn, and dividing each horn into six sections of 

 unequal length. These grooves are, as regards position, perfectly 

 symmetrical on both sides, and evidently indicate periods of 

 growth (probably annual) ; and if this be the case, the skull would 

 be that of an animal six or seven years of age. The terminal 

 (oldest) section measures (along the middle) 70 mm., the nest 70 

 mm., the third 40 mm., the fourth 115 mm., the fifth 75 mm., the 

 sixth (during which the anim'al was killed) 33 mm. Abundance 

 or scarcity of food, or other johysiological causes, may account 

 for the want of regularity in the growth of the horn. 



No trace of the fronto-orbital ridges is visible on the bony 

 core, a transverse section of which represents one half of a 

 regular oval. 



The colour of the hair attached to the head is now a uniform 

 light isabelline, but no importance can be attached to this, as the 

 colour may have been bleached by exposure ; the horns are also 

 similarly bleached, traces of the normal dark colour being still 

 visible in some parts. 



