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A Monograph of the species of Wild Sheep* By Edward Blyth, 

 Curator to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 



The arrival of various spoils of different species of wild Sheep, since 

 my memoir upon this genus of animals was read before the (Zoolo- 

 gical) Society, enables me now to clear up several points which I 

 formerly left as doubtful, as well as to include some additional species 

 in the catalogue, and to indicate still others as probably distinct, and 

 therefore desiderata to which the attention of travellers and others 

 should be directed, 



1. Ovis Poliiy nobis, (the Pamir Sheep.) In the narrative of the 

 celebrated Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, we read (in Marsden's 

 edition, p. 142,) that upon the elevated plain of Pamir, eastward 

 of Bokhara, and which is 16,000 feet above the sea level, " wild 

 animals are met with in great numbers, particularly Sheep of a large 

 size, having horns three, four, and even six palms in length. The 

 shepherds form ladles and vessels of them for holding their victuals. 

 They also construct fences for enclosing their cattle, and securing them 

 against the "Wolves, with which they say the country is infested, and 

 which likewise destroy many of these wild Sheep or Goats" {Moutoni v. 

 Becchi or * Boucs.') More recently, an animal called the Rasse was in- 

 dicated, from report, in Sir Alexander Burnes's Travels in Bokhara, 

 (vol. ii. p. 208), and its horns have since been transmitted to the Royal 

 Asiatic Society, by Lieut. Wood, of Sir A. Burnes's party, through 

 the medium of G. T. Vigne, Esq.f In this magnificent specimen of 



* This memoir upon the species of wild Sheep, read before the Zoological Society 

 in July, 1840, has already been reprinted, with copious annotations bringing the sub- 

 ject up to my then state of knowledge, in Taylor's Magazine of Natural History, 

 for May and June, 1841, and upon my arrival in India I found it again in type, and 

 have availed myself of the opportunity to communicate some additional informa- 

 tion.— E. B. 



t Burnes " was told that the Rasse is larger than a Cow, but less than a Horse, of a 

 white colour, with pendent hair under the chin," and a portion of skin attached to the 

 occiput of the frontlet in London is covered with white hairs. " The flesh," he conti- 

 nues, " is much prized by the Kirghizes, who hunt and shoot the animal with arrows. 

 It is said to delight in the coldest climates, and a common-sized specimen will require 

 two horses to bear its flesh from the field. This creature is called Rasse by the Kir- 

 ghizes, and Kooshgarhy the inhabitants of the low countries." Lieut. Wood, however, 

 (in the Narrative of his late Journey to the Source of the Oxus, p. 368,) distinguishes 

 between the " Rass and Kutchgar, the former having straight spiral horns, and its 

 dun colour being of a reddish tinge." It appears to me that three diff'erent animals 



