264 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



races or sub - species have been already recog- 

 nised : — 



The typical urin (Ovis vignei) of Astor, from 

 which the shapo of Ladak appears inseparable, is 

 a comparatively large sheep in which the coat is 

 fawn-coloured rather than foxy rufous. As a rule, 

 the horns of old rams turn markedly inwards at 

 their tips, and have their front angles moderately 

 prominent. The Gilgit urial is perhaps referable 

 to this race. 



In the Baluchi urial ((?. vignei blanfordi) the 

 horns tend to turn outwards at the tips, forming 

 a more open spiral, and have the front angles pro- 

 minent and occasionally showing a beaded structure 

 (pi. XX. fig. i). This race was described by Mr. 

 A. O. Hume in 1877 from the skull of a ram from 

 the Kelat district of Baluchistan, in which the tips 

 of the horns curve outwards, so as to form a spiral, 

 so open that a portion of the inner surface (which 

 in other urial is completely concealed) is visible in 

 a front view. In a second skull from Kelat (in the 

 British Museum) the spiral is, however, much less 

 open, and there is no marked outward divergence 

 of the tips, but it must belong to the same race ; 

 and the presumption is that the urial from the rest 

 of Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the Trans- Indus 

 districts in general, likewise belong to O. v. blan- 

 fordi, as the Indus forms an impassable barrier to 

 these sheep. The finest known horns of this race 



