880 A Monograph of the species of Wild Sheep, [No. 119. 



horns have more the curvature of those of the latter species, but are 

 not so robust, and curve round gradually backward from the base, in- 

 stead of at first diverging straightly, as in O. Gmelini ; but the colour 

 of the coat would appear to resemble that of the Corsican Moufflon, 

 only without the rufous cast, and the specimen figured wants also the 

 saddle-like triangular white patch, which I suspect is never absent in the 

 Moufflon of Sardinia and Corsica. The Tragelaphus of Belon, it is 

 true, observed by that author in Candia and in Turkey, is described 

 by him to have '' horns similar to those of Goats, but sometimes gyra- 

 ted like those of a Ram ;" yet the fact of a nearly similar flexure of 

 horn to that represented by Messrs. Brandt and Ratzeburg proving to 

 be of normal occurrence in the allied Armenian wild Sheep, confers ad- 

 ditional probability on the supposition that the Berlin specimen of the 

 Cyprian Moufflon has also normally curved horns, which alone would 

 go far to establish its claim to rank as a species, in which case it 

 might bear the appellation of O. Ophion.^ 



13. 0. — Ixalus Prohaton, Ogilby. — I stated in my former paper an 

 opinion, to which I am still disposed to adhere, that this animal is no 

 other than a genuine Sheep, but specifically distinct from any at pre- 

 sent known : the specimen had long lived in captivity, as is obvious 

 from the manner in which its hoofs had grown out ; but whereas I for- 

 merly sought to account for its absence of horns, by ascribing this to 

 probable castration at an early age, I am now inclined to consider that 

 this abnormity, for such there is every reason to suppose it, was 

 individually congenital, as in other rare cases before alluded to. The 

 Armenian wild Sheep approaches more nearly to this species than any 

 other as yet discovered ; so much so, that before actually comparing 

 them, I thought that they would prove to be the same ; but they are 

 nevertheless distinct, as is particularly shewn by the longer and less 



* It is worthy of notice that the Cyprian animal bears about the same relation- 

 ship to the Corsican Moufflon, which O. Gmelini does to O. Vignei. It is therefore, 

 also, probably distinct. In an original description of the island of Milo, published 

 in the Penny Magazine, (No. 136,) we read that, on Mount St. Elias, "still higher 

 up, the surface was broken into fine bold crags, among which we were told that, 

 'as in Candia, and one or two of the larger islands of the Archipelago, the Moufflon 

 is still to be found. We, however, certainly saw nothing of the sort; and on en- 

 quiring afterwards of some of the old inhabitants, we did not receive very satisfactory 

 assurances that they had ever seen any."— E. B. 



