S2 



SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



" The following are measurements taken from a full-grown male, though not the largest in the Mission 

 collection : — 



Inches. 



Total length from between the horns to tip of tail ..... 62" 



Length of head ........... 13'25 



Tail (including the hair at tip 1J inches long) ...... 5'5 



Distance between snout and base of ear (the eye lies below this connecting 



line) 12-75 



Distance between base of ear and the eye . . . . . .3*25 



Distance between snout and eye . . . . . . . .8*5 



Distance from the contact of horns to snout . . . . . .12' 



Breadth between the anterior angle of eyes . . . . . 6- 



Length of ear in front . . . . . . . . . 4" 75 



Height of shoulder (the hair being smoothed, beginning from the edge of 



the middle of the hoof at the side) ....... 44* 



Girth round the breast . . . . . . . . . . 51 - 5 



Length of one horn along the periphery . . . . . . .48" 



Circumference of one horn at base . . . . . . . .15' 



Distance between the tips . . . . . . . . .38* 



" The colour of full-grown females does not differ essentially from that of the males, except that the former 

 have much less white on the middle of the upper neck. The snout is sometimes brown, sometimes almost entirely 

 white, the dark eye-pits becoming then particularly conspicuous. The dark ridge along the tail is also 

 scarcely traceable. 



" In size, both sexes of Ovis poli appear to be very nearly equal ; but the head of the female is less 

 massive, and the horns, as in allied species, are comparatively small : the length of the horns of one of the 

 largest females obtained is 14 inches along the periphery, the distance at the tips being 15 inches, and at the 

 base a little more than 1 inch. The horns themselves are much compressed ; the upper anterior ridge is 

 wanting on them ; they curve gradually backwards and outwards towards the tip, though they do not nearly 

 complete even a semicircle. 



" In young males, the horns at first resemble in direction and slight curvature those of the female, but they 

 are always thicker at the base and distinctly triangular. 



ff The length of the biggest horn of a male along the periphery of curve was 56 inches, and the greatest 

 circumference of a horn of a male specimen at the base, 18^ inches. 



" Mr. Blyth, the original describer of Ovis poli from its horns, was justified in expecting, from their 

 enormous size, a correspondingly large-bodied animal ; but in reality such does not appear to exist. Although 

 the distance between the tips of the horns seems to be generally about equal to the length of the body, and 

 although the horns are very much larger, but not thicker than those of the Ovis ammon of the Himalayas, or 

 equally massive, the body of the latter seems to be comparatively higher. Still it is possible that the Ovis poli 

 of the Pamir may stand higher than the specimens described, which were obtained from the Thian-Shan 

 range. 



" Large flocks of Ovis poli were observed on the undulating high plateau to the south of the Chadir Kul 

 where grass vegetation is abundant. At the time the officers of the Mission visited this ground, i. e., in the 

 beginning of January, it was the rutting season. The characters of the ground upon the Pamir and upon the 

 part of the Thian-Shan inhabited by these wild sheep are exactly similar." 



I find from the skins preserved, that the dark mark above the tail is not constantly 

 present even in males ; in females Dr. Stoliczka notices that it is deficient. Some specimens 

 are far more hoary, especially on the neck and flanks, than others. 



All the skins of Ovis karelmi obtained by Dr. Stoliczka appear to have been shot in 

 winter. The animals from which they were taken were, I believe, brought down frozen to 

 Kashghar. 



