876 A Monograph of the species of Wild Sheep. [No. 119. 



greatest width of palate, 1| inch, and from front or first false molar to 

 anterior portion of occipital foramen, 5f inches. Mr. Vigne, indeed, 

 assures me, that the adult has only five grinders on each side of both 

 jaws, as in the Chirew, which, if normal, would make an important dis- 

 tinction, as the smaller specimen would undoubtedly have developed a 

 third true molar, and possesses three false ones ; whereas it is in one 

 of the latter that the Chirew is deficient. I am inclined, however, to 

 regard the two specimens as belonging to the same species, since 

 I have observed analogous differences in the mere flexure of the horn 

 in different Corsican Moufflons ; but it was at all events proper to indi- 

 cate the disparity.* 



Vast numbers of this species," relates Mr. Vigne, " are driven 

 down by the snow in winter to the branches of the Indus, near Astor, 

 at the southern extremity of Little Tibet, where the river breaks 

 through the chain of the Himalaya. I once saw a young one, apparent- 

 ly of this species, in Persia, but took no memorandum of it at the time ; 

 it was dirty and draggled, but, I think, was covered with short wool." 

 I have great pleasure in dedicating this species to that gentleman.j 



* Five skulls, with the horns, of adult males, are now before me, together with 

 some loose horns, which enable me to decide that the above animals were the 

 same in species; it is very rarely, however, that the outer front-angle of the horn 

 does not quite equal the inner one ; the extreme length of skull, from vertex 

 to tip of intermaxillaries, is 8| inches, and greatest breadth 5| inches ; length of bony 

 palate 4| inches. The series of molars consists, as usual, of three true and as many 

 false molars. — E. B. 



t The Ovis Vignei is extensively diffused upon the various ramifications of 

 the Hindoo Koosh, inhabiting Pamir on the north-east, the Sulimani chain of 

 mountains on the south, and westward the ranges of the Elboorz, which skirt the 

 southern extremity of the Caspian Sea. At least 1 judge this to be the species 

 mentioned in Mr. Eraser's 'Winter Journey from Constantinople to Tehran,' (vol. 

 i. pp. 153, 155, and 159,) as being very numerous upon a mountain near Shahrood. This 

 traveller notices, " The wild mountain Sheep and Goats. The male of the former is a 

 noble animal, with a curly neck, and mane that would become a Lion [winter coat ?], 

 and prodigious curling horns; the latter [probably C. JEgagrus'\\\diS immense horns 

 curving backwards. These mountain Sheep and Goats, warned by their sense of smell, 

 were making' off from our vicinity, at more or less speed, to places where they might be 

 sec ui*e ; there they would stand still upon some point or slab of rock, resembling it so 

 nearly in colour as scarcely to be distinguishable without a glass." Again, further to 

 the eastward, " a noble mountain Sheep" is mentioned (at p. 399) ; and " The wild 

 Sheep and the wild Goat" are stated by the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone to be 

 common on the eastern hills of Afghanistan. 



In the latter country, Capt. Thos. Hutton has more recently observed the O. 

 Vignei, and supposing it undescribed, proposes for it the provisional name 0. 



