132 



DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF ARGALI SHEEP 



Ovis Ammon. 

 Altai. 



''Argali" is a Tataric name for the species "Ovis ammon" 

 which lives in the frontier ranges of Altai and Siberia, but 

 this name has somehow come to be the usual common 

 designation for all the races which together form this group. 



The name became first known in Europe some time in 

 the middle of the thirteenth century through the Flandrian 

 traveller William of Kubruck who relates that he has seen 

 a wild animal which was called "Arch©." 27 



Regarding the discrimination of species of Wild Sheep 

 there seems to have existed a remarkable degree of confusion, 

 because some zoologists maintain that each of the larger 

 mountain massifs harbour one or several species, whereas 

 others are of the opinion that the majority of supposed 

 species are only to be considered as local forms or sub- 

 species. 



E. L^dekker 28 writes concerning these conditions as 

 follows : "From the point of view of the systematic naturalist, 

 sheep form an excessively difficult group to deal with. In 

 the first place, several of the local forms are so similar to 

 one another that it is almost impossible to decide whether 

 they should be regarded as species or races." 



To enter here upon these discussions is outside the 

 margin of this Paper but perhaps part of the description to 

 follow later will throw some light on the subject. For the 

 present I shall limit myself to a short description of the 

 distribution, appearance, and habits of the Argali Sheep, 

 living in the marginal districts of the Mongolian Plateau, 

 the Gobi, Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin. 



27 Douglas Carruthers, Unknown Mongolia, Vol. II, pp. 320-321. 



28 R. Lydekker : Wild Oxen, Sheep and Goats of All Lands, p. 151. 



