THE MOUFLON 53 



the mouflon still survived in the mountains of 

 Murcia, in Spain ; but this is very doubtful, al- 

 though the species occurred in Spain in the time 

 of Pliny, It is also believed to have inhabited at 

 one time the mainland of Greece and the Balearic 

 I slands ; but from considerations advanced in the 

 seventh chapter it is possible that the Grecian 

 mouflon may have been the Asiatic O. orientalis. 



It has been thought that testimony in favour of 

 the wider distribution of the mouflon in former 

 times is afforded by the occurrence of remains of 

 wild sheep in the superficial deposits of various 

 parts of the south of Europe. From Pont-du- 

 Chiteau in the Puy-de-D6me department of France, 

 for instance, a sheep has been described as Ovis 

 antiqua,^ while O. mannkardi,^ from Eggenburg in 

 Lower Austria, represents a second ; but, together 

 with O. argaloides^ described on the evidence of 

 limb-bones from the Certova Cave, near Stramberg, 

 in Moravia, the first of these sheep, as mentioned in 

 chapter xv., is probably nearer akin to the argali 

 than to the mouflon. 



In Sardinia the wild mouflon commonly inter- 

 breeds with domesticated sheep ; and the hybrids, 

 which appear to be perfectly fertile, have been 

 known from the time of Pliny by the name of 



' Pommerol, Comptes Rendus Assoc. France, 1879, p. 600. 

 * 'YokAo^ Jahrb. k.k. Geol. Reichsanstalt, Wien, 1903, p. 52. 

 ' Nehring, Neues. Jakrb. fur Mineral., 1891, vol. ii. p. 107. 



