WILD SHEEP OF ASIA AND AMERICA 273 



head is sharply angulated above. The maximum 

 length of the horns ranges from about 59 to 62 

 inches, with a girth of from 18 to 20 inches. There 

 is a more or less distinct white patch on the rump, 

 not extending on to the thigh, which is dark like 

 the back ; and there is no throat-ruff, even in 

 winter.^ In the short summer coat the colour is 

 very light, somewhat like that of whitey-brown 

 paper. The height at the shoulder ranges from 

 about 45 to 48 inches ; this race being apparently 

 the biggest of all. As in the Tibetan argali, there 

 is considerable individual variation in the horns, 

 some having the outer front angle much more 

 prominent than others. 



The range of the typical argali apparently once 

 extended from the mountains bordering Lake 

 Baikal to the Altai, but at the present day is chiefly 

 restricted to the Semipalatinsk division of the 

 latter. 



A favourite shooting-ground is the district lying 

 east of Semipalatinsk, approximately in longitude 

 50° N. by latitude 88° E. Here the wild sheep 

 inhabit undulating plateaus at an elevation of from 

 6000 to lo.ocx) feet above sea-level.^ 



In the year 1904 Dr. J. A. Allen,' of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, described 



* Blanford, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1896, p. 787. 

 » Ibid., p. 788. 



' Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. xx. p. 293, 1904. 



S 



