NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 33 



regions in which it is to be found, often at an elevation of 15,000 

 to 18,000 feet, and of his numerous successful and unsuccessful 

 stalks, is most thrilling ; and his observations on the appearance 

 and habits of the animal as viewed by him in a state of nature 

 brings vividly before the reader the scene of his stirring 

 adventures. 



To naturalists his remarks upon Ovis Karelini (which under 

 some misapprehension he styles Ovis Carolini), are instructive, 

 since they tend to prove that although considered by some who 

 have never seen it alive to be specifically distinct from Ovis Poli, 

 it is at most only a lowland variety of that animal. On this 

 point he writes : — 



"I could not see the slightest difference in this Ovis to that of the 

 Pamirs. No doubt it is found at a much lower altitude, as this steppe (the 

 Tian Shan range) was barely 7000 fest above the sea; and it is quite 

 possible that in the summer there might be a slight difference in the colour 

 and length of the hair; but otherwise the two appear to be identical." 



This confirms the opinion of Mr. Blanford, who does not 

 consider them distinct. After measuring and comparing a series 

 of eleven skulls, he arrived at the conclusion that the alleged 

 differences in the curvature of the horns are merely individual, 

 and that a complete transition can be traced between the extreme 

 modifications. It is highly probable that the so-called Ovis 

 Heinsi t also from the same region, has no better claim to specific 

 distinction. 



Major Cumberland's remarks upon the wild Camels seen by 

 him while camped at Bashkiok, on the edge of the great Gobi 

 Steppe, recall to mind the account given of these animals by the 

 Russian traveller Prejevalski : — 



" At Bashkiok," he says, *' a cavalcade approached with two bullocks 

 laden with something the nature of which I could not discern, but which, 

 on coming nearer, proved to be portions of a Camel, the head just as it had 

 been cut off, and some huge joints of meat. I was much interested, and 

 asked the shikari where he had got it. He said that the Camels came to a 

 place on the edge of the great desert of Gobi, about twenty-five miles off, to 

 drink water and graze on a certain kind of grass that grew there ; in his 

 time he had killed several of them there. This seemed an uuusual oppor- 

 tunity, and I told him I should like to shoot a specimen. He replied it was 

 very unlikely we should get another, for now that the snow lay about, they 

 went away to the heart of the desert, and did not return to drink at the 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XX. — JAN. 1896. D 



