46 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
A NEW NAME FOR THE WILD SHEEP OF NORTHEASTERN
CHINA.
The wild sheep of the mountains north of Peking was described and
figured by Peters in 1876 under the name Ovis jubata. This name is pre-
occupied by Ovis aries jubata Kerr, 1792 (Anim. Kingd., p. 330) and Ovis
jubata Fitzinger, 1860 (Wiss.-pop. Naturg. der Saugeth., vol. 5, p. 243).
Lydekker, 1913 (Cat. Ungulate Mamm., vol. 1, p. 96) erroneously adopted
the name Ovis argali mongolica Severtzow, 1873 (Trans. Soc. Nat. Moscou,
vol. 8, art. 2, p. 154) for this mountain sheep, but this name is preoccupied
by the Ovis steatopyga mongolica of Fitzinger, 1860 (Wiss.-pop. Naturg.
der Saugeth., vol. 5, p. 31), and the question of its applicability need not
here be considered. Other names placed with a query by Lydekker in
the synonymy of "mongolica" (Ovis argali dauricus Severtzow and Ovis
darivini Przewalski) are not available for the very distinct sheep described
by Peters. The Ovis jubata of Peters (Mon.-ber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss.,
1876, p. 177, pis. 1-4), being without a valid name, may be called Ovis
comosa.
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