OCR Text |
Show 426 DR. F. STOLICZA ON OVIS POLI. [June 16, The hairs on the lower neck are very much lengthened, being from 5 to 6 inches long. Ears hoary brown externally, almost white internally. Pits in front of the eye distinct, of moderate size and depth, and the hair round them generally somewhat darker brown than the rest of the sides of the head. The nose is slightly arched and the muzzle sloping. The hair is strong, wiry, and very thickly set, and at the base intermixed with scanty, very fine fleece ; the average length of the hairs on the back is from 2 to 2\ inches. The iris is brown. The horns are subtriangular, touching each other at the base, curving gradually with a long sweep backwards and outwards ; and after completing a full circle, the compressed points again curve backwards and outwards; their surface is more or less closely transversely ridged. The following are measurements taken from a full-grown male, though not the largest in the mission collection :- inches. Total length from between the horns to tip of tail 62 Length of head 13-25 Tail (including the 1|" long hair at tip) -. 5*5 Distance between snout and base of ear (the eye lies below this connecting line) 12*75 Distance between base of ear and the eye 3*25 Distance between snout and eye 8'5 Distance from the contact of horns to snout 12 Breadth between the anterior angle of eyes 6 Length of ear in front 4-75 Height of shoulder (the hair being smoothed, beginning from the edge of the middle of the hoof at the side) 44 Girth round the breast 51*5 Length of one horn along the periphery 48 Circumference of one horn at base 15 Distance between the tips 38 The colour of full-grown females does not differ essentially from that of the males, except that the former have much less white on the middle of the upper neck. The snout is sometimes brown, sometimes almost entirely white, the dark eye-pits becoming then particularly conspicuous. The dark ridge along the tail is also scarcely traceable. In size, both sexes of Ovis poli appear to be very nearly equal; but the head of the female is less massive, and the horns, as in allied species, are comparatively small : the length of horn of one of the largest females obtained is 14 inches along the periphery, the distance at the tips being 15 inches, and at the base a little more than 1 inch. The horns themselves are much compressed ; the upper anterior ridge is wanting on them ; they curve gradually backwards and outwards towards the tip, though they do not nearly complete even a semicircle. In young males, the horns at first resemble in direction and slight curvature those of the female, but they are always thicker at the base and distinctly triangular. The length of the biggest horn of male along the periphery of curve |