not appear that this angulation can be attributed to immaturity, one of the
specimens being taller than the animal in which the front edges' o f the
horns are rounded off. This'rounding of the horns cannot, therefore, be
taken as an invariable point of distinction between poli karelini, and poll
typica. Neither, I think, can inferiority'of size in the former be so regarded,
one of the specimens with angulated''horns in the museum measuring
3 feet 8 inches at the shoulder, and thuswonsiderably exceeding Mr.
Littledale’s mounted example of thi'Pamir race. And I think it most
probable that in the Western Semirechinsk the two will be found to
intergrade completely.
The Ovis sculptorump f Blyth is founded on afjfingle horn in the Museum
of the College of Surgeons which was regarded both by SevertzofF and_
Brooke as probably identical with the present form. And i f such identity
could be definitely established, Blyth’s name' as the earlie®,'. shouldjgle
adopted. In the absence of any such ' certainty the name generally in use
has been retained for the present.
Now comes the question as to Ovis heinsi, named on the evidence or
skulls obtained from Tokmak, situated in the Southern Semirechinsk to
the north-west of the Issik Kul lake and to the north-east#;| t the Alexan-
drovski Mountains, and thus within what ought to be the range.-of the
present species. And, so far as the available evidence goes, I cannot see
how O. heinsi can be differentiated from the present race of O. poli, and, at
any rate, that form cannot apparently be more than another race of the
same species.
Distribution.—Typically from the Alatau, but apparently extending cbjgf
the greater part of .the Semirechinsk and Sapliski Altai to the Thian Shan
and south-west to the Narin river, where its range is said to overlap that of
O. poli typica. Tokmak and the Alexandrovski Mountains, the former of
which is the typical locality for the so-called Ovis heinsi, are; included in
this area.
ifo&A Bjlt’he mode of life of the Thian Shan race is doubtless identical
with that of the typical 0 . poll. SevertzofF writes as follows : “ Ovis
karelini, like other sheep, does not live exclffiively amongst the rocks, as
Hj the case with the different species of Capra. It is not satisfied, like the
male of Mm B pcW Skeep. From a pj|t|graph by Mr. Daytii.T. Hanbury.
latter, with small tuftfflf grass growing in the clefts of rfiks., but requires
more extensive feeding-grounds B i t is therefore more easily driven from
certain districts than Ig; the case with Capra. In the neighbourBod of
Kopal, for instance, the goats are abundant in the central parts of the
steppes of Kara, whilst the sheep have been partially driven from these
places, visiting them in autumn. On’^the southern ranges of the Semirechinsk
Altai, in the vicinity of the river Ili, wherever good meadows
2 D