DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF ARGALI SHEEP 149 



From these measures we may conclude that commosa 

 has greater basal girth in proportion to the length of horn 

 than any other sheep of the Argali group. The curve of the 

 horns form an almost perfect spiral; the tops are not so 

 strongly bent out and this causes the spread between tops 

 to fall very short of corresponding dimension in amnion, 

 with his intensely bent tops. 



A. de C. Sowerby describes 0. commosa thus: 



The Wild Sheep of North China is of a dark fawn grey 

 colour with a very pronounced white croup disc, and cream- 

 coloured legs. The hair is thick and in places inclined to be 

 woolly. There is a well developed mane, while the hair on 

 the front of the neck is long. In very old rams the shoulders 

 and back become flecked with white. 



They are very deep in the chest, light in the quarters 

 with long, slender, though powerful legs. The tail is very 

 short, being marked above with dark brown, which is con- 

 nected with the brown on the back. 



Ovis hodgsoni. 



Characteristics : Size about the same as commosa with 

 height at shoulders varying from 3 ft. 6 ins. to at least 

 3 ft. 10 ins. 



Colour : In adult males the hair on the sides and lower 

 surface of the neck is elongated into a large whitish ruff, 

 which apparently persists throughout the year; there is also 

 a shorter crest of dark hair running along the back of the 

 neck to the withers. 



Apart from the whitish ruff the general coloration is 

 very similar to the typical race. The upper parts are 

 greyish -brown, the throat, chest, under parts and insides 

 of the limbs, the front surface of the legs below the knees 

 and hocks, as well as a small caudal disk in the males, dirty 

 white. The upper surface of the root of the tail has a dark 

 mark, and the caudal disk and white on the legs are less 

 developed than in either of the preceding races, the fawn 

 of the hind legs sometimes extending completely round them 

 above the hocks. In old males, probably in the summer 

 coat, the back becomes grizzled, owing to admixture of 

 white to the brown hairs. The ewes have little or no mane, 

 less of white on the limbs, and the caudal disk much more 

 indistinct. 



