176 Sheep
males ; a more or less distinct white disk on.the buttocks of the rams ; the
face, more or less of the under-parts* the inner surfaces.of the legs and their
front surfaces below the knees and hocks white ; outer surface of thighs
dark like the back.
This species, which, although originally named by Linnaeus, was first
adequately described by the Russian naturalist Pallas on the evidence o f
specimens obtained from Siberia, is 1 the typical representative of that
exceedingly difficult and still very imperfectly known group, of large.
Asiatic sheep to which the name of argali may be collectively applied. If,
as some sportsmen have, suggested, all these great sheep are nothing mor.e
than local races of one very variable species, the name Ovis ammon will be
the one which will have tRIfstand, There seem, however, to be at least
three well-marked types o f large wild sheep in Central and Northern Asia,
severally represented by Ovis ammon, O. poli, and the Kamschatkan race of
the bighorn. And as I cannot satisfy myself that the two. Jgjrmer pass. Into
one another, while they are certainly distinct from the latter, I think it
better, for the' present at any rate, to regard them as distinct species, with
fewer or more local races. •
The general characters of the horns of adult rams of the typical race of
O. ammon are so differ||t from those of the adult 0. poli that there is never
any difficulty in distinguishing between the tw®' animals, which are further
differentiated by colour, the former having the outer surface of the thighs
coloured like the back, while in the latter it is white. In the Tibetan
race, where the horns are often more angulated, they are always much
more massive than those of poli, as well as considerably shorter. I f Miter-
mediate forms between the ammon and poli types are to be looked for anywhere,
it is in the Altai, where they would most likely be found, since the
typical race of the former ranges into the northern districts of that area,
while a variety of the latter inhabits the more southern parts. And in the
British Museum there are certain Altai sheep referred to below which in
regard to their horns are to a certain extent intermediate between the
typical ammon and the variety of poli named karelini. But these sheep are
in colour so different from both that, in the present state of information,
it appears desirable to keep them apart.
The weight of males of the Tibetan race has been estimated to reach
from 25'p. to 350 lbs.; one specimen is known, to have weighed 205 lbs., and
a second 2 12 lbs.
Distribution.—The’igpuntries bordering the Gobi Desert, being definitely
known from Monpflia, north. o f Pekin, through Eastern Siberia and
Northern MongoliafTo. the' Semipalatinsk Altai, and thence through the
Kuenlun, and perhaps the district north of the Mustag, to the Tibetan
plateau. Although it is not definitely ascertained that the range is continuous
from North-Eastern Mongolia to the Kuenlun, yet it is most
probable that this will be found to be the ca§e|4 Apart from thig|it seems
fairly evident that the distributional area of the ammon type forms a hollow
ellipse, or perhaps a hdrse-shoe, on the north-western border of which
• areStuated the districts inhabited by the poli type and the sheep here
called O. sairensis.-
a. S ib e r ia n R v ty fi Ovis? am m o n t y p i c a
Ovis argali altaica, Severtzoff, Trans. Soc, Moscou, vol. viii. art. 2,
p. i 5 4 p 873)- .
Ovis argali mongolica, Severtzoff, loc.Ccit^
Plate X IV .
Characters. — Size very large, the; dimensions; being the maximum
attained by the species. Horns of male very massive, long, and curving
much outwards at the tips, which are generally entire, so as to form
2 A