358 Further Notice of the Species of Wild Sheep. [April, 



nivicola, Eschseholtz. The first of these I had never seen, and could 

 refer to merely : the second I was well acquainted with : and the third 

 I only knew from M. Eschseholtz' s work, but referred also to a notice 

 of it in the narrative of Kotzebue's voyage. The Society's Museum 

 now boasts a very fine specimen of O. ammon* which I am enabled 

 to assert, positively, is distinct from O. montana of North America : 

 and I incline to refer to it, though with considerable hesitation, the 

 horn in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, (vide 

 Taylor's plate, figs. 3 and 4,) for which I suggested the provisional 

 name sculpt orum ; and without any hesitation Mr. Hodgson's large 

 species, first provisionally named by me Hodgsonii upon Mr. Hodg- 

 son's description of the horns in the * Asiatic Researches,' and subse- 

 quently by him ammonoides.f Pallas' s figure of O. ammon, copied 

 into various works, though sufficiently rude, indicates certain characters 

 which are at once recognised in the Society's specimen ; such as the 

 lengthened white hair on the fore-neck and breast, the corresponding 

 hair in O. montana being blackish ; and there is no reddish-Mack tinge 

 on the face of O. ammon : the horns are badly represented ; but, with 

 a specimen for comparison, it is readily seen that the errors are due to 

 want of skill in the daughtsman. These horns are considerably less 

 massive than in 0. montana, and their section is very different, and 

 especially the view of tbem as seen from above : but they are more 

 prolonged, in an inverse ratio to the decreased bulk towards the base ; 

 though considerably less prolonged and thicker at base than in O. 



* Presented by G. T. Lushington, Esq., who has announced to me the despatch of four 

 more perfect skins : we have also an imperfect skull of a young 1 male. To Mr. Lushing- 

 ton the Society is likewise indebted for a skin of the Kiang- received, and for another and 

 more perfect specimen now on its route ; with numerous other valuable contributions. 



t Mr. H. even confounded 0. am mon with 0. nahoor, in As. Res. XVIII, pt.' II, 135 ; 

 and the mistake was first pointed out in my paper : but as he described the horns of 

 quite a young ram (vide his plate) as " accurately triangular" (i. e. equiluterally? ) I 

 did not feel justified in identifying the species with 0. ammon : stating that even the 

 " Rocky Mountain species would, at the same age, have much compressed horns, far 

 from attaining to an equilateral triangle ;" to which I added that—" Should a true 

 species be here indicated, as is not improbable, distinct from 0. ammon, I propose that it 

 be dedicated to that assiduous investigator of Nepalese Zoology, and be accordingly 

 termed 0. Hodgsonii !" My opinion now, that it is, positively and decidedly, identical 

 with 0. ammon, will of course be received quantum valeat, in opposition to that of Mr. 

 Hodgson ; who, however, has not advanced a single reason for supposing otherwise. 



