Seward daily gateway., 1925-04-02
RARE BEASTS OF ASIA ARE OBJECTIVES OF
 ROOSEVELT HUNTERS


 to be sought for the Field Museum by Colonel Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt and George K Cherrie dur ing the James Simpson-Roosevelt eX- petition to Central Asia this year are among the strangest and most beautiful in the world, according to zoologists at the museum here.
 The expedition, financed by James Simpson, president of the Marshal, Field & Co.,, will sail from New York in April. It probably will en- ter India via Bombay, and travel northward by rail to the foot of the Himalayan outer range and go by automobile to Serinogur. From then on into the Pamir region plateaus it will use pack horses, yaks, camels and coolies.
 In addition to seeking specimens of the rare Ovis Poli, or Marco Polo sheep, the three white men will also hunt the Markhor, the finest of goats, the Yarkand stag, the Himalayan ibex, the goitered gazelle, the long haired tiger, the ounce or snow leop- ard, the Tibetan Argali, a wild sheep; the Tibetan antelope, the Kashmir stag, the big Asiatic brown bear, and other mammals as we'll as birds of the region, according to D. c. Da- vies, director of the museum
 "Ovis Poli is probably the most in teresting of these animals, owing to the romance attached with it in connection with Marco Polo's trav- els," said w. H. Osgood, curator of zoology at the museum. When that explorer returned to Europe af- ter his trip into Cathay in the thir- teenth century, his description of the huge animal caused many learn ed men to brand him as a fakir. The sheep is bigger than the Am erican Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, and has huge spiral horns. Although the spread of the horns is usually about 55 inches, each horn sometimes measures from 50 to 75 inches from tip to base, the spirals lessening the spread.
 Perhaps the most beautiful of the animals sought is the ounce or snow leopard. The snow leopard is so- called because it lives in the snow above the timber line, or close to the edge of the timber. It is white with black spots, and possesses a beautiful, long heavy tail. It is about the size of an American noun tain lion or leopard.
 The Kashmir stag is a big deer related somewhat to the European red deer and American elk. The Thian Shan stag, another possible trophy, is a similar animal and one of the most magnificent of the deer tribe Attempts also will be made to obtain specimens of the Tibetan Argali, wild sheep weighing ordi- narily 200 pounds, found in northern India and Tibet, majestic animal, remarkable for it's horns, which are heavy with the curve down and forward Sometimes these horns are 20 inches in circumference at the base.
 "The big Asiatic brown bear, of the type of the American Kodiak bear, but not quite so large, is also an inhabitant of the Himalayan pla- teaus and mountains It resembles the European brown bear and is bigger than the American grizzly.
 'Himalayan goats are expected to furnish some of the most attractive trophies. These include the Himalay- an ibex and Markhor, the latter pos sessing horns that look like cork screws. More like the American domestic ram is the Himalayan Tahr, another member of the goat groups of the region.