84 



SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



female was killed on the Pamir ; but if the skin was preserved, it was not added to the collec- 

 tion. Carriage was scarce at the time, and fewer specimens were taken than would have been 

 the case under more favorable circumstances. Judging both from Stoliczka's diary and from 

 Captain Biddulph's remarks in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, the distinction 

 between the two kinds of wild sheep was not recognized by any of the members of the Mis- 

 sion when on the Pamir, although all noticed the greater length of the Pamir horns. When 

 Captain Biddulph had an opportunity of comparing heads of the two animals, he noticed the 

 great difference in the curve of the horns as well as in their length. 



It is unnecessary to point out the distinction between the two sheep at length : this has 

 been done already by Dr. Severtzoff, and Messrs. V. and B. Brooke, in the papers quoted above. 

 The differences in colouration are shewn by Severtzoff' s figures and description to be trifling : 

 O. poli has longer hair on the neck. The much greater length and greater divergence of the 

 horns in O. poli are the most striking characters. In Dr. Stoliczka's notes there are measure- 

 ments of one gigantic pah* in which the right horn measured 65^ inches round the curve, 

 the left horn 64, the distance from tip to tip of the horns was 53 inches, and the circumference 

 of each horn at the base 16 inches. The curve varies somewhat, however. Thus, amongst 

 the measurements given by Messrs. Brooke, in one skull, with horns 49 inches long round 

 the curve, the tips are 49^ inches apart ; in another, the original type described by Blyth, 

 each horn measures 56 inches, but the distance between the tips is only 45, and similarly 

 amongst the specimens brought by members of the Yarkand Mission, in the skull pre- 

 sented to the East Indian Museum by Sir D. Eorsyth, the relative measurements are given 

 as 55 and 43^, whilst in a specimen obtained by Captain Biddulph and measured by myself 

 they are 51 and 49. 



It may be as well to point out here, that the O. poll of Severtzoff is found considerably 

 north and north-east of the Pamir in parts of the Thian-Shan range, north and north-east of 

 Kashghar ; that it is uncertain whether the animal inhabits the intervening tract, and that, 

 so far as is known, no specimens from the two areas have been compared : only the skull 

 and horns of the Pamir animal are known. It is most probable that the Thian-Shan race is 

 identical with that found on the Pamir, but further comparison is desirable. 



According to Severtzoff, O. poli ranges to the east of Lake Issyk, in the high plateaus 

 around Han Tengri (Tengrikhan) . It is not found further north, but Prejevalski met with it 

 further east on the Juldus river. It is also included by Prejevalski in his list of animals 

 occurring on the Altyn Tdgh, south of Lob-nor 1 . Here again further comparison is desirable, 

 as there is a possibility that some other race has been confounded with 0. poli. Nothing was 

 previously known of any wild sheep from the Kuenlun ranges, except the very distinct O. 

 nahura, and Messrs. V. and B. Brooke have suggested 2 that the Argali of the Kuenlun 

 mountains maybe 0. brookei? If O. poli really inhabits the ranges north of Tibet and south 

 of the Turkestan plain, the views expressed by Messrs. Brooke as to the distribution* of the 

 Central Asiatic sheep of the Argali type will need modification. These naturalists suggest 

 that the glacier system of the Karakoram, or, in other words, the Mustagh range, forms a 

 barrier between the areas inhabited by O. poli and 0. hodgsoni. 5 



1 Ante, p. 7. 



- P. Z. S., 1875, p. 521. 



3 P. Z. S., 1874, p. 143. 



4 Tom. cit., p. 526. 



5 In the "Narrative of progress of Mission to Kashghar and hack to India " published in the " Official Report," p. 69, 0. arnmon 

 (i. e., O. hodgsoni) is said to be found on the Til et border of Kashgharia about Taghdumbash and Muztagh. Taghdumbash is north 

 of the Mustagh range. 



