44 
MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 
[Cases 
47-52.J 
climbs rocks and precipices with as great ease as a Wild Sheep, to 
which it is more allied than to the Ox tribe. 
Ihe Sheep form a small group, well characterized by their thick, 
heavy, and transversely-ridged horns, curved spirally outwards, 
and by their jieculiar physiognomy, quite distinct from that of all 
their allies. Some of the wild species are as large as a donkey, 
and their horns are of enormous weight and strength. The 
specimens are placed in the large Case against the north wall of 
the Saloon, on the top of which are also some of the finest pairs of 
horns, the remainder being arranged in the Osteological Gallery. 
The most worthy of note are:— The Wild Sheep of Cyprus {Ovis 
ojj/iion) j the races inhabiting the Alpine ranges and plateaus of 
Fig. 17. 
Marco Polo’s Sheep. 
Central Asia [Ovis poll, Ovis hodgsoni, Ovis ammon, Ovis cgclocer os) > 
of the first of these {Ovis poll), besides those in the case in the 
Saloon, a particularly fine series, shot and presented by St. George 
Littledale, Esq., are exhibited in the Central Case near the entrance 
to the Gallery ; the Wild Sheep of Kamtschatka and Xorth-western 
America (0. nivicola) ] the Bighorn of North America {0. cana- 
densis); the Mufflon of Corsica and Sardinia {0. musinion) ; the 
Burrhel (0. nahura) ; and, finally, the very peculiar, long-haired, 
long-bearded Barbary Sheep {Amniotragus tr ag el aphus) , with horns 
quite different both in character and direction Irom those of all its 
allies. Of the horns exhibited, by far the finest are those of Marco 
Polo’s Sheep {O.poli), of the Pamir Plateau, Central Asia, of which 
the tips of the two horns are 5G inches apart, while each horn 
measures along the curves 64 inches, and describes more than a circle 
and a quarter when viewed from the side. Still larger examples are 
jdaced in the Osteological Gallery above. The habits of the different 
Sheep are all very similar : they live in highlands, some of the 
