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Show 510 SIR VICTOR BROOKE AND MR. B. BROOKE [June 15, all that is known of the large Argali Sheep of Central Asia, in the hopes of determining the Thian-Shan species, and of ascertaining what may be regarded as established facts respecting the differentiation and distribution of the allied forms. This study has convinced us that our knowledge of the physical geography and fauna of Central Asia is as yet far too inexact to admit of any thing more than a mere statement of bare facts. We have therefore concentrated our efforts upon the task of placing all the facts that we have been able to gather in as easily accessible a form as possible, without attempting to estimate the exact value of characters of the origin and extent of which we at present know but little. Many of the specimens collected by the Yarkand Mission are now in London, and we have had the fullest opportunity of examining them. To Mr. Edwin Ward our best thanks are especially due for the many facilities which he has offered to us, at, we fear, considerable inconvenience, for studying the specimens committed to his charge. By far tbe most important recent contribution to our knowledge of the subject before us is due to the laborious and careful researches of Mr. N. A. Severtzoff, the results of which are published in the ' Transactions of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow,' vol. viii., and also in a separate work entitled ' Vertikalnoe e Goro-youtalnoe Raspredalenie Turkestankie Jevotnie' (Moscow, 1873). Unfortunately both Mr. Severtzoff's works are written in Russian, a language which is utterly unintelligible to the larger number of European and American naturalists. W e feel, therefore, that uo excuse is necessary for laying before the Society a more or less full abstract of all that touches the subject of this paper*. Almost all we know respecting the Turkestan species being contained in Severtzoff's work, we shall, in treating of these species, adhere as closely as possible to Mr. Severtzoff's own words. At the end of the account of each species we will add any observations which may suggest themselves to us as worthy of notice. In the case of the species not found in Turkestan, we shall give original descriptions of specimens personally examined' in either British or Continental museums; and finally we shall append a table of all the specimens which we have examined, with their measurements, followed by a list containing remarks on the individual peculiarities of each specimen, and the name of the Museum, public or private, in which it may be found. Before describing the different species of Sheep met with by him in Turkestan, Mr. Severtzoff defines clearly the terms used by him in his descriptions of the horns of Sheep; and, although we are unable to agree with Mr. Severtzoff in the value which he attaches to the characters afforded by the horns, we fully appreciate the practical utility of Mr. Severtzoff's definitions. W e propose, therefore, following his example, to define as exactly as possible the features observable in an adult typical Sheep's horn, giving to each a * Mr. Severtzoff's descriptions have been translated for us by Mr. F. Craemer. |