WILD SHEEP OF ASIA AND AMERICA 281 



mals of the Second Yarkand Expedition, wrote as 

 follows : — 



"The two species of sheep described by 

 Severtzow from Western Turkestan, O. heinsi, from 

 near ToUmak, north of Lake Issyk, and O. nigri- 

 montana, from the Karatau or Black Mountains, 

 north-east of the Syr or Jaxartes, are smaller forms, 

 but apparently more nearly allied to Ovis poll and 

 O. karelini than to any other species of wild sheep. 

 It may not improbably be found that intermediate 

 varieties occur, and that all these forms of wild 

 sheep are merely races more or less completely 

 differentiated." 



Of the race which should be known as O. a. 

 heinsi I have never seen specimens, and until such 

 are available for comparison in London its distinc- 

 tive characters must remain unknown, as the original 

 description is insufficient. 



The argali inhabiting the mountains to the 

 north-west of Kashgar, which was identified by the 

 Messrs. Brooke with Severtzow's Ovis karelini, 

 and subsequently regarded by Dr. Blanford as a 

 variety of O. poli, is not, as already mentioned, the 

 true karelini, but appears to represent a race con- 

 necting littledalei vfiihpoli. The horns are lighter, 

 with the front outer angles in some cases more 

 rounded off and the tips more extended outwards 

 than in littledalei, but are smaller than those oipoli. 

 So far as can be determined from the faded con- 



