SHEEP. 



25 



found on the Pamirs at a height of about 16,000 feet above the 

 sea, is named after the great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who 

 crossed the Pamirs during his journey through " Tatary " in the 

 latter part of the 13th century. It was not, however, till 1838 

 that skulls were brought to England by Lieut. Wood, R.N., on 

 the evidence of which the species was named Ovis poli by 

 Mr. E. Blyth in 1840. The mounted male specimen was presented 

 by Mr. Littledale; numerous specimens of the skull and horns 

 are exhibited on the tops of the cases. 



„. .... «. The wild Sheep known in the Punjab [Case 47.] 



The Shapo, or Unal Sheep. , TT . w ; neo , T , , J 



as the Unal (1063), and m Ladak as 



Ovisvignei. the shapo ^ 0vis vigne ^ nj62), is a 



smaller animal than the Argalis, with less massive horns, and a 

 ruff of long white hair on the throat of the males. It is 

 remarkable on account of inhabiting countries with a widely 

 different climate ; the Urial being found in the hot hills of the 

 Punjab at a few hundred feet above the sea-level, and the Shapo 

 at elevations of from twelve to fourteen thousand feet in Ladak 

 and other districts of Tibet. The female has small horns. 

 Several local races of this handsome sheep are known ; the range 

 of the species covering a large area in Central Asia, from the 

 frontiers of Persia through Baluchistan and Afghanistan to the 

 Salt Range in the Punjab and Ladak on the Upper Indus. 



The Armenian Wild Sheep. This s P ecl f s ( ,064) ; ese ™ bles u the 1 Urial 



m general size and colour, but has a 



Ovis gmelini. much smaller ruff on the throatj which 



does not extend nearly so high up, while the spiral formed by the 



horns of the rams is twisted in the opposite direction. The does 



are hornless. The species ranges from Asia Minor to the Elburz 



Mountains in Persia, where there is a distinct local race, represented 



in the collection by a mounted head presented by the Hon. W. [Case 47.] 



Erskine, after whom it has been named O. gmelini erskinei (1065). 



The wild Sheep of the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus (0. ophion, 



1066) is a small form of this species. 



The Mouflon Sheep ^ e ^ ou ^ on or Wild Sheep of Sardinia and 

 Corsica, O. musimon (1067), is a small dark- 

 VIS iHUSimon. coloured species, characterised by the general 

 absence of horns in the females, and of a ruff on the throat of the 

 males, as well as by the horns having the front outer angle much 



