forming a well-marked white ruff on the throat and chest, and a darkish
line of somewhat elongated hair extending from the nape to the withers ;
the upper-parts showing a more or less rufescent tinge, especially towards
the border of the dark area. In females the neck is brown in front in the
winter pelage ; while in the summer coat there is typically no blackish
stripe extending from the head to ’the root .of the tail, although this is
present, at least in the winter coat of the second race. Horns of female
generally ^similar to those of O. ammon.
Twenty-two stone.is given as the approximate weight of an adult ram.
The two points whereby this magnificent sheep may be most easily
distinguished from its fellows are, firstly, the relative slenderness of the
horns of the rams, which in the typical race are longer and extended more
outwardly than in any other sheep ; and secondly, the large extent of
white on the hind-quarters, which includes the greater part of the outer
surface of the thighs, , Between the horns of the typical races of the present
species and of O. ammon even the most superficial observer would not fail
to easily recognise the difference. Those horns of O. polikarelini in which
the outer front angle is rounded off are, however, much more like those of
O. ammon typica in form, although the marked difference in stoutness and
depth forms a ready distinction between them.
In the British Museum this species is represented by a magnificent
series of skulls and horns from the Pamirs, and also by a mounted male and
female in summer pelage presented by Mr. Littledale. All these belong to
the Pamir race ; but the Thian Shan form is likewise represented by several
mounted specimens of various ages obtained during the Second Yarkand
Expedition under the leadership of the- late Sir Douglas Forsyth. These
latter are, however, all in the winter pelage, and it is thus, unfortunately,
at present impossible to compare the two races at the same season, at least
so far as the British Museum collection is concerned.
In the absence of the original specimens, it Is,- difficult to say whether
the sheep called by Mr. Sclater Ovis arkar is the present species or O. ammon.
On the one hand, arkar is the Turki name of 0 . poll, but, on the other, the
skulls mentioned by Mr. Sclater were reported to have come from the
Altai.
Distribution.— From the Thian Shan and the plateau north of Hunza
through the Semirechinsk Altai and the Pamirs to the valley of the
upper Amu Daria, or Oxus. By Prezewalski it has been recorded from
the Altyn-tag, to the south of the Gobi, but this reference is very doubtful,
and it is probable in that district its place is taken by a member of the
ammon group. The definitely known distributional area is therefore situated
on the western border of the hollow ellipse occupied by the ammon group,
the typical and most highly specialised race inhabiting the extreme western
portion of the area, and the less modified Thian Shan form occurring in the
country between the Pamir race and the typical 0 . ammon.
History.—-Although met with by Marco Pol|j; during his Asiatic
journeys, this sheep was first definitely made known to European science
by skulls' obtained by Lieutenant Wood, R.N., in 1838, on his return
from his journey to the source of the Amu Daria, when detached
from Sir Alexander Burne’s Mission tcBthe Court of Cabul. These
specimens, one of which is preserved in the British Museum, and
the other in the Royal College I f Surgeons, were obtained on
the high plateau near Lake Siri Kol, at an elevation of about 16,000
feet above the sea-level, and apparently from near the same locality
as the one mentioned by Marco Polo. T w S years after their discovery
the species to which they belonged was named 0 . poli by Blyth.
So far as I am aware, nothing more was known in England with regard
to the species till the return of the Second Yarkand Expedition in 1874,
when several skulls of the typical Pamir race, and also skins from the
Thian Shan, then regarded as belonging to the same form, were brought
home. Some of these skins were described by Dr. Stoliczka as the true