think it just possible such a weight might cause the
animal to lose its balance.*
Colonel Prejevalsky on the Yuldus saw herds
of 30 or 40 of the Ovis P o lii, and gives the measurement
of the horns of the old males in his collection as
4 feet 8 inches, with a thickness of 18 inches at the
base, and their weight about 36 poods.t Mr. Serge
Alpheraky, however, another traveller from Russia,
who has penetrated the Kalmuk camping-grounds, and
who in 1879 followed Colonel Prejevalsky s track as
far as the Yuldus plateau, with the object of collecting
butterflies and moths, doubts whether any other species
* Dr. Severtsoff shot an old ram that proved too heavy for a strong
mountain camel to carry. This camel required four hours to accomplish
three miles, and was obliged to lie down several times during the
journey. A t low elevations a camel can carry 600 lbs. with ease, and
on lofty plains, where the air is rarefied, 400 or 450 lbs., so that the
weight of this specimen was estimated at about 600 lbs. The same
authority distinguishes three other species of wild mountain sheep in
Turkistan (Ovis Karelini, O. Heinsi, O. Nigrimontand), and gives an
instance of the strength and tenacity of the Ovis Karelim, the next
largest to the Ovis Polii. In hunting an old male it was hit by him five
times, each time with a good-size bullet, and only the sixth bullet
brought him down. The first bullet hit the animal between the hind
legs in the left testicle, the pain of which hindered its running, though
even then two men had to follow it for an hour. Two bullets had struck
the horns, the animal each time falling to thV ground, but within a
• minute rising again. Neither of the next two bullets sufficed to stop
the creature, though one of them penetrated the liver and the other the
lungs, and it was only on receipt of the sixth bullet, penetrating the
heart, that the sheep succumbed.
t Sir Victor Brooke, who has studied the subject closely (Proceedings
of Zoological Society of London, 1875), mentions the following mountain
sheep found elsewhere than in Turkistan, but which he is disposed to
think had their birthplace in the Himalayas, namely: Ovis Ammon,
O. Hodgsonii, O. Brookei, O. Nivicola, and some others. Nearly allied
to O Nivicola is the O. Montana of North America. I have measured
the horns and skull (weighing 32 lbs.) of a very fine specimen in the
collection of Mr. H. Seton-Karr. It was shot by him in the Rocky
Mountains, and measures : length of skull, 13 in. ; of horn, 38 in. ;■ circumference
at base, i6£ in. ; from tip to tip in a .straight line, 2oi in.
but the 0 . H einsii inhabits the Yuldus.* He observed
28 species of mammals, 6 of fishes, and 17 of reptiles,
etc., and collected specimens of the greater part in
series, which now belong to the Imperial Academy of
Science at Petersburg. Among birds of the 111 valley
may be mentioned pheasants, geese and ducks, cranes,
bustards, grebes, snipe, plovers, etc., sea and other
eagles, and kites.
Mr. Alpheraky’s collection of lepidoptera numbered
* Mr. Alpheraky writes to me that he brought home a good series
of the species of Ovis that inhabits the Yuldus. Both Dr. Strauch and
he iudge them to be O. Heinsii. , He says : “ W e once saw a herd of
2 000 of these sheep. Herds of 200 and 300 are met with rather often.
My 13 specimens are now at the museum of the Imperial Academy of
Science at Petersburg.- They are of immense size, and are the biggest
of the rich collection of Ovis there. I have also given to the Academy
a complete skeleton of an old and immense ram of this species. Mr.
Alpheraky then adds a list of vertebrata observed by him in the Kuldja
district, as follows
M a m m a l i a .
Tigris Regalis (with thick
and long fur).
Felis Irbis.
Felis Manul.
Canis Vulpes.
Canis Melanotus.
Canis Corsac.
Canis Alpinus.
Canis Lupus.
Ursus Arctos.
Ursus Leuconyx.
Melis Taxus.
Lutra Vulgaris.
Martes sp. (?)
Rhabdogale Sarmatica.
Putorius Gale.
Schizotkorax Anisolepidus,
Kessler.
Schizothorax n.s., Iliensis.
Diptychus Dybowskii, Kess-
Erinaceus Auritus.
Sus Scrofa Aper.
Cervus Maral.
Cervus Pygargus.
Gazella Subgutturosa.
Capra Sibirica (not Capra
Skyn).
Ovis Heinsii.
Ovis K a r e lin i (mountains west
of Kuldja).
Lepus Lehmanni.
Meryones Opimus (sands west
of Kuldja).
Hypudceus Amphibius.
Spermophilus Eversmanni.
Arctomys Baibacinus. ,
P i s c e s .
Diplophysa Labiata, Kessler.
Perea Schrenckii, Kessler.
Alburnus, sp.