26 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Head of Marco Polo's Sheep. 



pair of horns, with extremely broad bases, which 

 expand in the old males and nearly meet in the 

 median line. The greater part of the body is 

 covered with long brown hair, thick, matted and 

 curl}-, and a dense woolly underfur, which is shed 

 in summer, protects it from the arctic cold. Its 

 strange appearance would make it an attractive 

 beast in the Regent's Park, and I see no reason 

 why it should not thrive in our cold and damp 

 climate, where it existed in former days, though 

 perhaps the northern districts of Scotland would 

 be the most suitable locality if an attempt were 

 made to acclimatize it. The meat of the musk-ox 

 is much appreciated by explorers of the Polar 

 regions, and a full-sized specimen of this animal 

 is said to weigh over six hundred pounds. If 

 not quite equal to beef and mutton, "musk-ox" 

 would make a nice variety, and the slight taste 

 of musk w T hich it is said to carry would add to 

 its piquancy. 



The Council of the Zoological Society are so 

 convinced of the expediency of bringing the musk- 

 ox back to England that the}' have agreed to give 

 five hundred pounds for five examples of this 

 animal, two males and three females, delivered 

 alive and in good condition in London. 



Marco Polo's sheep (Ovis poll) named after the 

 great mediaeval explorer, Marco Polo, by Blyth, 

 under the notion that a passage in the writings of 

 the Venetian traveller referred to this animal, is 

 one of a series of gigantic sheep that inhabit the 

 mountain ranges of Central Asia and North 

 America. Amongst its congeners it is remarkable 

 for the wide spread of its enormous horns, which, 

 combined with the difficulties of access to its 

 habitat, renders its head one of the most precious 

 trophies that a modern sportsman can hope to 

 obtain. Only such hardy and experienced hunters 

 as Mr. Littledale, Major Cumberland, and Lord 

 Dunmore have as yet penetrated into the recesses 



of the Pamir and obtained 

 examples of this much-prized 

 species of game. 



The way into the elev 

 pastures upon which Marco 

 Polo's sheep browse haying 

 been now opened, it cannot be 

 doubted that other adventurers 

 will quickly follow in the foot- 

 steps of Mr. Littledale and 

 Lord Dunmore. Let them shoot 

 the old rams with large heads by 

 all means, but let them not fail 

 to catch some lambs alive, and send them home to 

 England. That the Himalayan sheep can be 

 captured and brought to this country with little 

 difficulty is evidenced by the fact that one of the 

 circular sheep-enclosures in the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens contains a fine family of the Burrhel 

 (Ovis nahura) of the Himalayas. The Pamirs are 

 not quite so accessible to us as the Himalayas, but if 

 wild sheep can be caught in the one, there is no 

 reason why they should not be caught in the 

 other. 



For further information as to the home and 

 habits of Ovis poli our readers must turn to the 

 second volume of Lord Dunmore' s narrative of 

 his journey through the Pamirs, lately published. I 

 may add that the allied big sheep of the Himalayas 

 — Ovis hodgsoni — would be nearly as acceptable to 

 the Zoological Society as that of the Pamirs, but 

 Ovis poli would be better on account of its large size 

 and the remarkable spread of its horns. The 

 Bighorn of the Rocky Mountains — Ovis canadensis — 

 is a third mountain- sheep of the same group, of 

 which specimens would be also very welcome 

 in the Regent's Park, as they have never yet been 

 brought to Europe. 



The Reeky Mountain " goat ,: as it is commonly 

 called, which comes next in our list, is not a true 

 goat (Capra), but belongs to what is termed the 

 Rupicaprine section of the family Bovidz, which is 

 half-way between the goats and the antelopes, and 

 is known to naturalists as Haplocerus montanus. It 

 is closely allied to the goat-antelopes of the Asiatic 

 ranges, which constitute the genus Nemorhzdus, 

 and must have slipped over to North America in 

 company with the Bighorn and the Wapiti (both old- 

 world types) in the days when Asia and America 

 were united across Behring's Straits. There are 

 fine specimens of this remarkable beast, both in 

 summer and winter dress, in the Mammal Gallery 

 of the British Museum, which our readers, who 



