the Sheep, in zoology, a genus of the mammalia class, and of the order of Pecora; the characters of which are these: The horns are concave, turned backwards, and full of wrinkles; there are eight fore teeth in the under-jaw, and no dog-teeth. The wool of these animals is only a congeries of very long and slender hairs, oddly twisted and contorted, and variously interwoven with one another. This, as far as is yet known, is a clothing peculiar to the sheep kind, no other animal having been seen to possess it. It is not, however, the clothing of all the species of sheep, some that are found in distant nations having short hair like that of the goat.

Linnaeus enumerates three species, which are perhaps only varieties, viz. 1. The ovus aricus, or ram sheep, the horns of which are shaped like a half moon, and compressed. 2. The ovus Guineensis, or Guinea sheep, which has pendulous ears, lax hairy dewlaps, and a prominence on the hind part of the head. The wool is short like that of a goat. It is, as its name imports, a native of Guinea. And, 3. The ovus flosferos, or Cretan sheep, which has straight curved horns, twisted in a spiral manner, and is a native of Mount Jola. According to Mr Pennant, the last two are to be reckoned only varieties.

The sheep, unquestionably a mild and gentle creature, is also represented by Buffon as the most stupid, defenceless, and timid of all quadrupeds; insomuch that, without the assistance of man, it could never, he thinks, have subsisted or continued its species in a wild state.

"The female is absolutely devoid of every art and of every mean of defence. The arms of the ram are feeble and awkward. His courage is only a kind of petulance, which is useless to himself, inconvenient to his neighbours, and is totally destroyed by castration. The ewe is still more timid than the ram. It is fear alone that makes sheep so frequently assemble in troops; upon the smallest unusual noise, they run close together; and these alarms are always accompanied with the greatest stupidity. They know not how to fly from danger, and seem not even to be conscious of the hazard and inconvenience of their situation. Wherever they are, there they remain obstinately fixed; and neither rain nor snow can make them quit their station. To force them to move or to change their route, they must be provided with a chief, who is taught to begin the march; the motions of this chief are followed, step by step, by the rest of the flock. But the chief himself would also continue immovable, if he were not pushed off by the shepherd, or by his dog, an animal which perpetually watches over their safety, which defends, directs, separates, affirms, and, in a word, communicates to them every movement necessary to their preservation.

"Of all quadrupeds, therefore, sheep are the most stupid, and derive the smallest resources from instinct. The goat, who so greatly resembles the sheep in other respects, is endowed with much more sagacity. He knows how to conduct himself on every emergency: he avoids danger with dexterity, and is easily reconciled to new objects. But the sheep knows neither how to fly nor to attack: however imminent her danger, she comes not to man for assistance so willingly as the goat; and, to complete the picture of timidity and want of sentiment, she allows her lamb to be carried off, without attempting to defend it, or showing any marks of resentment. Her grief is not even expressed by any cry different from that of ordinary bleating."

The annotator upon this article in the Edinburgh translation of Buffon, denies the above to be the natural character of the animal. "All tame animals (he observes) lose a portion of that sagacity, dexterity, and courage, which they are obliged to employ against their enemies in a wild state; because they have been long accustomed to rely upon the protection of man. Sheep, when enslaved by men, tremble at the voice of the shepherd or his dog. But, on those extensive mountains where they are allowed to range without control, and where they seldom depend on the aid of the shepherd, they assume a very different mode of behaviour. In this situation, a ram or a ewe boldly attacks a single dog, and often comes off victorious. But when the danger is of a more alarming nature, like man, they trust not to the prowess of individuals, but have recourse to the collective strength of the whole flock. On such occasions, they draw up into one compact body; they place the young and the females in the centre; and the strongest males take the foremost ranks, keeping close by each other's sides. Thus an armed front is presented on all quarters, which cannot be attacked without the greatest hazard of destruction. In this manner, they wait, with firmness and intrepidity, the approach of the enemy. Nor does their courage fail them in the moment of attack. For, if the aggressor advances within a few yards of the line, the ram dashes upon him with such impetuosity, as lays him dead at their feet, unless he saves himself by flight. Against the attacks of single dogs, or foxes, they are, when in this situation, perfectly secure. Besides, a ram, regardless of danger, often engages a bull, and never fails to conquer him; for the bull, by lowering his head, without being sensible of his defenceless condition, receives between his horns the stroke of the ram, which usually brings him to the ground.

"In the selection of food, few animals discover greater sagacity than the sheep; nor does any domestic animal show more dexterity and cunning in its attempts to elude the vigilance of the shepherd, and to steal such delicacies as are agreeable to its palate. When perfectly tamed, and rendered domestic, the sportive gambols and troublesome tricks of the animal, are too well known to require any description."

As to the accusations contained in the latter part of the character above quoted, every person, it is observed, ved, who has attended to those animals, at least in this country, must know that they are not altogether just.

Individuals, in a state of subjection, seem to have no idea of resisting the attacks of an enemy. But they soon learn that their protection lies in the shepherd or his dog; for, when it becomes necessary, in Britain, to watch the folds, in order to prevent assaults from foxes or dogs, upon the first alarm the whole flock run with violence to the place where the watchmen are stationed; so that, when they chance to sleep, they are often hurt by the sheep trampling upon them. On other occasions, they never choose to make a very close approach either to men or dogs; but the sense of immediate danger makes them forget their usual timidity, and their sagacity teaches them where their safety lies. When the female is robbed of her lamb, the bleats in a manner that strongly marks the anguish she feels. In the eagerness of her search, her eye-balls seem to start from their sockets; and her irregular and distracted motions, joined to the violence and constancy of her bleatings, are evident indications of the most pungent grief."

These animals (continues the Count in the same captious style as before), so simple and dull in their intellect, are likewise very feeble in their constitution. They cannot continue long in motion. Travelling weakens and extenuates them. When they run, they pant, and soon lose their breath. The ardour of the sun is equally incommodious to them as moisture, frost, and snow. They are subject to many diseases, most of which are contagious. A redundancy of fat often kills them, and always renders the ewes barren. They bring forth with difficulty; frequently miscarry, and require more care than any other domestic animal."

To which the annotator answers, "This is unquestionably another exaggeration. The sheep, when nearly in a wild state, is a robust, active animal, and capable of enduring much fatigue without injury. But, when immersed in luxury, and pampered in rich pastures, like creatures of a higher nature, the sheep becomes overloaded with fat, and contracts diseases which are not natural to him; besides, no tamed animal requires or receives less affiance in bringing forth its young, for in those parts of Britain where the best sheep are bred, they are never housed, nor, during the lambing season, have anything administered to them but their ordinary pasture. When in health, sheep have no occasion for water; in our northern climates, it is even injurious to them."

On the whole, many of Buffon's observations and assertions on this article appear to be hasty, and we presume, very ill founded. Respecting sheep, the learned Count seems to have been strangely misinformed, or grossly prejudiced. We esteem him as a great and an ingenious man, but we do not think that the celebrity of a name can add strength to weaknesses, or make that be taken for granted on a bare assertion which wants proof, or which is contrary to experience, the boasted guide of modern philosophers. The objections and accusations of this great naturalist are well obviated by his learned translator. The great error of Buffon seems to lie in his conferring sheep in a domestic state, and as they exist among us, without any reference to them in a state of nature, and without supposing or allowing their existence in such a state (A). That he was wrong in this respect, a very little reflection will convince us; and indeed his translator has shown it in a very ample manner, by recurring to facts, which is the only legitimate way of reasoning upon this or any subject of this nature. To set this matter in a still stronger point of view, however, we shall give the following account of the Siberian argali, or wild sheep, as it appeared in the 16th volume of a periodical work intitled the Bee; being extracted by a correspondent from the works of the celebrated naturalist Dr Pallas, who has paid particular attention to this part of his profession.

This accurate observer found the ovus ferus, or wild sheep, in all its native vigour, boldness, and activity, inhabiting the vast chain of mountains which run through the centre of Asia to the eastern sea, and the branches which it sends off to Great Tartary, China, and the Indies. This wild animal, which our learned naturalist declares to be the musimon of Pliny, and the ophion of the Greeks, is called argali by the Siberians, which means wild sheep; and by the Russians kamennoi barann, or sheep of the rocks, from its ordinary place of abode. It delights in the bare rocks of the Asiatic chain just mentioned, where it is constantly found basking in the sun; but it avoids the woods of the mountains, and every other object that would intercept the direct rays of the glorious luminary. Its food is the Alpine plants and shrubs it finds amongst the rocks. The argali prefers a temperate climate, although he does not disdain that of Asiatic Siberia, as he there finds his favourite bare rocks, sunshine, and Alpine plants; nay, he is even found in the cold eastern extremity of Siberia and Kamtchatka, which plainly proves that nature has given a most extensive range to the sheep in a wild state, equal even to what she has given to man, the lord of the creation; a fact that ought to make us slow in believing the assertions not uncommon, which tend to prove the sheep a local animal; or at least that it must be confined to certain latitudes, to possess it in all its value.

The argali loves solitude, or possibly perfect liberty, and therefore flees the haunts of all-inclining man; hence it gradually abandons a country in proportion as it becomes peopled, if no unformidable obstacle obstructs its flight; insomuch that Dr Pallas thinks that nothing but the surrounding sea can account for the wild sheep being found in an inhabited island, as is sometimes the case. The ewe of the argali brings forth before the melting of the snow. Her lamb resembles much a young kid; except that it has a large flat protuberance in place of horns, and that it is covered with a woolly hair, frizzled, and of a dark grey. There is no animal to fly as the argali, which it is almost impossible to overtake on such ground.

(A) In his account of sheep this is literally true, though, for the purpose of supporting a favourite hypothesis, he does mention the argali, or, as he calls it, mouflon; and asserts that it is the parent of all the domestic varieties; but this, in our opinion, only makes his observations in this place more unaccountable at least, if not inconsistent. See below note (c). ground as it keeps to. When pursued, it does not run straight forward, but doubles and turns like a hare, at the same time that it scrambles up and over the rocks with wonderful agility. In the same proportion that the adult argali is wild and untameable, the lamb is easily tamed when taken young, and fed first on milk, and afterwards on fodder, like the domestic sheep, as has been found on numerous experiments made in the Russian settlements in these parts.

"This animal formerly frequented the regions about the upper Irtili, and some other parts of Siberia, where it is no longer seen since colonies have been settled in these countries. It is common in the Mongolian, Songarian, and Tartarian mountains, where it enjoys its favourite solitude or liberty. The argali is found likewise on the banks of the Lena, up as high as 60 degrees of north latitude; and it propagates its species even in Kamtschatka, as noticed before. The argali is also found in the mountains of Persia, and is said to obtain in the Kuril islands in great size and beauty. It purges itself in the spring (like all the domestic varieties of the sheep, when left at liberty to follow their instinct) with acid plants of the anemone-like kind, till milder plants spring up, and shrubs begin to sprout, which with Alpine plants constitute its usual food. It likewise frequents the salt marshes which abound everywhere in Siberia; and even licks the salt efflorescence that rises on the ground, a regimen that fattens them up very quickly, and fully restores the health, vigour, and flesh they had lost during winter, and during the pugging course, which, together with the restorative, is by the Almighty so wonderfully dictated to the sheep species, whether in a wild or tame state, if left to roam at large where the necessary plants are to be found." Here, then, we have a variety of the sheep species, which by some indeed, and by Dr. Pallas among others, is thought to be the parent of all our domestic varieties, and which lives and propagates without any aid from man, and which on all occasions carefully thins him. That it is the parent sheep we are not convinced; that being an opinion which requires proof, and better proof than we presume the abettors of it are able to produce.

Having given a figure of this animal (see Plate CCCLXXI), we shall add the following description of it, taken likewise from the Bee. The argali is about the height of a small hart, but its make is much more robust and nervous. Its form is less elegant than that of the deer, and its legs and neck shorter. The male is larger than the female, and every way flouter. Its head resembles that of a ram, with long straggling hairs about the mouth; but no beard. Its ears are rather smaller than those of a ram. The horns are exactly represented in the plate; they weigh in an adult sometimes 16 pounds. The tail is very short. The summer-coat consists of short hair, sleek, and resembling that of a deer. The winter-coat consists of wool like down, mixed with hair everywhere an inch and a half long at least, concealing at its roots a fine woolly down, generally of a white colour. The colour of its coat was in general of a dark greyish brown, with white tips to the longer hairs, and consisted of hair mixed with wool, of a dark iron grey. By accounts lately received from the Isthmus, the argali is found of a white colour on the continent of America, opposite to their country. It is likewise of a whitish colour at Kamtschatka.

But independent of its manners or its mental qualities, this animal is of the most extensive utility to man. We are clothed by its fleece. The flesh is delicate and wholesome food. The skin, dressed, forms different parts of our apparel; and is used for covers of books. The entrails, properly prepared and twisted, serve for strings for various musical instruments. The bones calcined (like other bones in general), form materials for tests for the retiner. The milk is thicker than that of cows, and consequently yields a greater quantity of butter and cheese; and in some places is so rich, that it will not produce the cheese without a mixture of water to make it part from the whey. The dung is a remarkably rich manure; insomuch that the feeding of sheep is become too useful a branch of husbandry for the farmer to neglect. Nature, in short, has given this animal nothing that does not redound to our benefit.

The ram is capable of generation at the age of 18 months; and the ewe can be impregnated when a year old. One ram is sufficient, according to Buffon, for 25 or 30 ewes; they have often been known indeed to beget 100 lambs in a single season. He ought to be large and well proportioned; his head should be thick and strong, his front wide, his eyes black, his nose flat, his neck thick, his body long and tall, his testicles maffy, and his tail long (a). White is the best colour for a ram. The ewes whose wool is most plentiful, bushy, long, soft, and white, are most proper for breeders, especially when at the same time they are of a large size, have a thick neck, and move nimbly.

In this climate ewes fed in good pastures admit the ram in July or August; but September or October are the months when the greatest part of our ewes, if left to nature, take the ram. They go with young about five months, and generally bring forth but one at a time, though frequently two; in warm climates, they may bring forth twice in a year; but in Britain, France, and most parts of Europe, only once. They give milk plentifully for seven or eight months. They live from 10 to 12 years; they are capable of bringing forth as long as they live, when properly managed; but are generally old and useless at the age of seven or eight years. The ram, though he lives 12 or 14 years, becomes unfit for propagating when eight years old.

When

(a) Buffon says "he should be garnished with horns; for hornless animals, of which there are some in our climates, are less vigorous and less proper for propagating." On this the annotator observes, that "there are many breeds of sheep in which both males and females want horns; yet they are as vigorous as any of the species. The largest and finest sheep in England have no horns. In some counties, the inhabitants are perfectly unacquainted with horned sheep; in other places, a sheep without horns is as great a rarity as one with four or six horns." When the male lambs are not intended to be kept for propagation, but fattened for food, they ought to be castrated at the age of five or six months. This operation is performed two ways: in the one, an incision is made, and the testicles taken out; in the other, a ligature is tied tight round the scrotum, above the testicle, which soon destroys the vessels which nourish them. After castration they are called waddlers.

The ram, ewe, and wether, when one year old, lose the two fore-teeth of the under jaw; six months afterwards, they lose the two foreteeth next to these; and at the age of three years, the teeth are all replaced. The age of a ram may likewise be discovered by his horns, which always appear the first year, and frequently as soon as he is brought forth. These horns uniformly acquire an additional ring every year, as long as the creature lives. The ewes commonly have no horns, but a kind of long protuberances in place of them; however, some of them have two and some four horns.

"It has been remarked by the ancients (says Buffon), that all ruminating animals have fat: But this remark, strictly speaking, holds only with regard to the sheep and goat: The fat of the wether is more copious, whiter, drier, firmer, and better, than that of any other animal. Fat or grease is very different from fat; the former being always soft, while the latter hardens in cooling. The greatest quantity of fat is found about the kidneys; and the left kidney furnishes more than the right. There are also considerable quantities in the epiploon or web, and about the intestines; but it is not near so firm or good as that of the kidneys, the tail, and other parts of the body. Wethers have no other grease but fat; and this matter is so prevalent in their bodies, that their whole flesh is covered with it. Even the blood contains a considerable quantity of fat; and the semen is so charged with it, as to give it a different appearance from that of other animals. The semen of men, of the dog, horse, ass, and probably of every animal which affords not fat, dissolves with cold; or, when exposed to the air, becomes more and more fluid from the moment it escapes from the body. But the semen of the ram, and perhaps of every animal that has fat, hardens and loses its fluidity with its heat.

"In the sheep, the taste of the flesh, the fineness of the wool, the quantity of fat, and even the size of the body, vary greatly in different countries. In France, the province of Berry abounds most in sheep. Those about Beauvais, and in some other parts of Normandy, are fatter and more charged with fat. They are very good in Burgundy; but the best are fed upon the sandy downs of our maritime provinces. The Italian, Spanish, and even the English wools, are finer than the French wool. In Poitou, Provence, the environs of Bayonne, and several other parts of France, there is a race of sheep which have the appearance of being foreign. They are larger, stronger, and better covered with wool than the common kind. They are likewise more prolific, producing frequently two lambs at a time. The rams of this race engender with the common ewes, and produce an intermediate kind. In Italy and in Spain, there are a great variety of races; but they ought all to be regarded as of the same species with our common sheep, which, though so numerous and diversified, extend not beyond Europe. Those animals with a long broad tail, so common in Asia and Africa, and which are called Barbary sheep by travellers, appear to be a species different from the ordinary kind, as well as from the Pacos and Lama of America.

"As white wool is most valued, black or spotted lambs are generally slaughtered. In some places, however, almost all the sheep are black; and black lambs are often produced by the conmixture of white rams with white ewes. In France, there are only white, brown, black, and spotted sheep; but in Spain, there is a reddish kind; and in Scotland there are some of a yellowish colour. But all these varieties of colour are more accidental than those produced by different races; which, however, proceed from the influence of climate, and the difference of nourishment."

Reflecting the varieties, or, as some will have it, the different species of sheep, there has been a great difference of opinion among the learned. Buffon, we find, in the above extract, if we understand him right, regards the variety of races in Italy and in Spain as of the same species with our common sheep; but he considers the Barbary sheep as a distinct species (c). Dr Pallas, the learned naturalist already quoted, in very

(c) How consistent this opinion is with that which makes the argali the parent sheep, we shall not pretend to determine. This hypothesis he brings forward in the end of the 7th volume of his natural history *, * Edin. and as much of it as concerns the present subject we shall here infer. He concludes, from a strain of reasoning, strong and plausible at least, it not absolutely convincing, that "the temperature of the climate, the quality of the food, and the evils produced by slavery, are the three causes of the changes and degeneration of animals. The effects of each merit a separate examination; and their relations, when viewed in detail, will exhibit a picture of Nature in her present condition, and of what she was before her degradation.

"Let us now compare our pitiful sheep with the mouflon, from whom they derived their origin. The mouflon, which is the same with the argali, is a large animal. He is fleet as a stag, armed with horns and thick hoofs, covered with coarse hair, and dreads neither the inclemency of the sky nor the voracity of the wolf. He not only escapes from his enemies by the swiftness of his course, but he resists them by the strength of his body, and the solidity of the arms with which his head and feet are fortified. How different from our sheep, who fulfill with difficulty in flocks, who are unable to defend themselves by their numbers, who cannot endure the cold of our winters without shelter, and who would all perish, if man withdrew his protection? In the warmest climates of Asia and Africa, the mouflon, who is the common parent of all very extensive travels in the Russian empire, more particularly in Siberia; and amongst the pastoral nations of great Tartary, found what he regards as only one species of sheep subdivided into four varieties, and distinguished by their tails, the form of their heads, their ears and fleece. So that he condemns as unfounded and fanciful the erroneous idea of making specific differences of the accidental varieties, which, in his opinion, education all the races of this species, appears to be less degenerated than in any other region. Though reduced to a domestic state, he has preserved his stature and his hair; but the size of his horns are diminished. Of all domestic sheep, those of Senegal and India are the largest, and their nature has suffered least degradation. The sheep of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Calmuck, &c. have undergone greater changes. In relation to man, they are improved in some articles, and vitiated in others: But, with regard to nature, improvement and degeneration are the same thing; for they both imply an alteration of original constitution. Their coarse hair is changed into fine wool. Their tail, loaded with a mass of fat, has acquired a magnitude so commodious, that the animals trail it with pain. While swollen with superfluous matter, and adorned with a beautiful fleece, their strength, agility, magnitude, and arms, are diminished: These long-tailed sheep are only half the size of the mouflon. They can neither fly from danger, nor resist the enemy. To preserve and multiply the species, they require the constant care and support of man.

"The degeneration of the original species is still greater in our climates. Of all the qualities of the mouflon, our ewes and rams have retained nothing but a small portion of vivacity, which yields to the crook of the shepherd. Timidity, weakness, resignation, and stupidity, are the only melancholy remains of their degraded nature. To restore their original size and strength, our Flanders sheep should be united with the mouflon, and prevented from propagating with inferior races; and, if we would devote the species to the more useful purposes of affording us good mutton and wool, we should imitate some neighbouring nations in propagating the Barbary race of sheep, which, after being transported into Spain, and even into Britain, have succeeded very well. Strength and magnitude are male attributes; plumpness and beauty of skin are female qualities. To obtain fine wool, therefore, our rams should have Barbary ewes; and to augment the size, our ewes should be served with the male mouflon."

The learned Count seems to speak with more certainty upon this subject than the circumstances of the case, or the nature of the facts (as yet far from being fully ascertained, or completely authenticated), will admit. The editor of the Bee, who is well known to have devoted much time and attention to this subject, thus ably exposes the futility of those arguments which are brought in support of an hypothesis, which he thinks extremely absurd, or at least premature. "Buffon (says he), who is the least scrupulous of all modern naturalists, has been the most forward to decide in this, as in many other cases. He does not so much as condescend to admit that there can be a doubt in this case; but on all occasions assumes it as a certainty, that all the varieties of one species have been derived from one parent; and boldly raises upon that supposition many practical inferences, which, if his theory should prove to be unfounded, might lead to very important errors; so that it is not a matter of idle curiosity to investigate this question." He then goes on to show by some particular instances the gross absurdity of Buffon's opinion.

"Were (continues he) these diversities only casual, and apt to vary, it might be more easy for us to give faith to the hypothesis; but this is not the case. Experience hath fully proved, that any one breed may be kept perfectly uncontaminated for any length of time, with all its distinctive peculiarities entire, merely by preventing an intermixture by copulation. Nor is this all; it is also known, that if such intermixture be permitted, the descendants will undoubtedly be a mixed breed, evidently participating of the qualities and appearances of both their parents. Between a hound and a greyhound, a mongrel breed is obtained which possesses the sense of smelling, though in a less degree than the one, and the faculty of fleeciness in a less degree than the other, of its parents; and its whole external appearance evidently indicates at first sight the compound of the stock whence it has descended. But let a small lap dog and a large mastiff be fed with the same food and tended with the same care, the one discovers no symptoms of increasing in size or diminishing it more than the other. Let them be carried from one country to another, they equally preserve their original distinctive qualities, without any farther change than the climate may perhaps produce; which equally seems to affect all the varieties of this animal. Never was there adopted an hypothesis more truly absurd than that of Buffon in this respect. Nor was there ever made such a barefaced attempt to try how far the credulity of mankind could lead them astray in deference to a great name, in direct contradiction to facts which fall immediately under the cognizance of every man who pleases but to open his eyes, and look right before him, as in those bold and unfounded assertions which he has been pleased to make, with regard to the transformation of dogs from one variety into another. Yet these opinions have been inadvertently transcribed many times by learned naturalists, without one symptom of doubt or hesitation. But can any thing be more contrary to reason, experience, and facts that every man has before his eyes every day in his life, than such opinions? It is indeed humiliating for the pride of man, who plumes himself on the superiority of reason, to remark this. And it is mortifying for modern philosophy, which affects to be founded on experience and accurate observation of facts alone, to point out such things; but truth ought in all cases to be adhered to." Though this note has already extended to an undue length, we cannot omit the following observations by the same patriotic writer: "In regard to sheep, the varieties of this useful class of animals seem to be considerable, and their natural propensities so discriminated as to be admirably calculated for adapting them to different situations on this globe, so as to make them a very universal inhabitant of it; and there are so diversified as to habits and instincts, education or mode of life, climate, food, and crossing the breed, have produced in sheep, as in other animals; and, in conformity to this opinion, he considers not only those varieties found in Europe, but also those of other quarters of the globe, as only accidental varieties of the same species; and his opinion is confirmed, by finding that they produce a prolific race though the breed be ever so much crossed; which he thinks would not be the case were they different species. The varieties which Dr Pallas examined, which, as we have already said, are four, are as follow. The first is named both by the Tartars and Russians Tschekoffian sheep, and by Pallas dolichura or long-tailed: it is the ovus longicauda of authors.

The second is called the Russian sheep by the natives, and by Pallas brachura or short tailed: it seems to be the ovus affinis of authors, with smaller horns.

The third has no fixed trivial name, as its appellations are as various as the provinces where it is reared; Pallas has called it fleatopyga or fat-tailed: it is the ovus laticeaudata of authors.

The fourth has likewise no fixed trivial name, but Pallas has called it bucharian, from finding it reared by the Bucharian Tartars in immense flocks. The Tschekoffian sheep, or first variety, is a handsome animal, with a noble air, in its native country and the south of Russia, resembling in its habits, horns, fleece, and length of tail, the Spanish, but more particularly the English sheep. Its head is well proportioned, and of an elegant form; ears straight; horns large, even, rounded in the angles, tapering to a point, and bending inwardly towards the back. The rams are seldom without horns, and the ewes have them often bent in a lunar form. The wool, though coarse, is without admixture of hair, which is perhaps but an accidental distinction, and promises to be much meliorated by crossing the breed, and rearing the animal with more care and skill. It is even known to become much finer without the assistance of art, merely from the influence of a temperate climate, as on mount Caucasus. The tail of the ram is covered with fine long wool, like the Indian sheep described by Buffon, which trails on the ground, from the size of the prints made by the animal's feet on sand, and it contains often 20 joints or vertebrae. In passing from the state of nature to that of servitude, it seems to have lost its native ferocity, together with its coarse fleece. Dr Pallas says it is a mild gentle animal, and is less degenerated in form from the argali, which, according to his system, is the parent species, than the fleatopyga, which on the other hand has preserved much more of its wildness than the Tschekoffian; perhaps because it is allowed to range with little restraint on the wide extended plains of Great Tartary. The Tschekoffian is reared in all the European regions of the Russian empire, situated on this side the river Oca, in the nearer Poland, and by the pastoral people of mount Caucasus; and they are commonly of a white colour.

The same variety, we are told by Russel, in his natural history of Aleppo, is reared under the name of Bedouin sheep by the Arabs, and in the western parts of Mauritania, with a trifling difference in the length and thickness of the tail. There are likewise sheep in Morocco, which belong to this variety, on account of the distinguishing character of it, a long tail, although otherwise different, in having an ugly look, head covered entirely with hair, little hanging ears, and remarkably long wool.

The Indian and Guinea sheep, so well described by Buffon, resemble the Tschekoffian only in the length of their tail, whilst in other respects they come nearer the fleatopyga or fat-rumped sheep of Pallas in size, form, and fleece mixed with hair. The learned naturalist is of opinion, that the arid burning deserts produce this change on the wool; but his reasoning on this head is to us at least as little satisfactory as that by which he endeavours to prove the argali to be the parent species. The inhabitants of Ukraine and Podoli carry on an extensive and valuable traffic with the skins of Tschekoffian sheep, the beauty of which they heighten in a very curious manner.

The brachura, short tailed, or second variety which Dr Pallas examined in his travels, is reared throughout all the north of Russia, and resembles that of Iceland in size, tail, and coarseness of fleece; but though this be the case in these few respects, yet it differs from it in a very essential character, that of horns, which are much smaller, and have nothing of that exuberance which Buffon and others attribute to the sheep of that island. It resembles the Tschekoffian sheep in the form of its head, straight upright ears, and in thickness of fleece; but the quality of the two fleeces are very different, this variety having wool almost as coarse as dog's hair: but the great distinguishing character between them is the tail, which is almost a quarter of a yard shorter than that of the Tschekoffian. The brachura, or short-tailed sheep, is reared not only by the northern Russians, but likewise by the Fins and other neighbouring nations. Some of this variety have been transported into Siberia, where they have supported themselves on some pastures, though in poor condition; but through all the southern countries they are in less estimation than the long-tailed and fat-tailed varieties, which are much superior to them for size, fat, and good eating. The ewe of this short-tailed variety couples readily with the ram of the fleatopyga or fat-tailed breed, and produces an animal nobler and larger than its mother, with a tail swollen at the base with fat, but meagre towards the end like that of the mixed breed, which makes Dr Pallas's fourth and last variety of domestic sheep. The ewe also couples clandestinely with the

as to preserve the principal breeds very distinct, if left in a state of nature. The argali, strong, active, nimble, delights to live among rocks and inaccessible places; while the large fluegith breed of sheep, such as those that have been taken into keeping by our countryman Bakewell, could never ascend these steep, but are well calculated to consume the produce of the fertile plains; there is therefore no chance that these two breeds would ever intermingle, if left entirely to themselves. The last of these two varieties has indeed been long domesticated by man, as being utterly incapable of withdrawing itself from his sway, though the first has been able to preserve its independence till the present hour in some of the mountainous and least inhabited districts on the globe." He then goes on to mark the lesser distinctions, in which, however, we cannot follow him. domestic he-goat, and produces an animal much resembling the mother, but with a fleece of wool and hair. This latter is a fact of the truth of which we have some doubt. The Doctor may easily have been misled, and may have adopted his opinion, merely from the shaggy appearance of the fleece of some breeds of sheep, which much resembles the hair of a goat; but these are found as well in countries where no goats exist, as in those where they abound. The fact has not then, we think, been sufficiently ascertained. This variety supports extremely well the severity of a northern climate; and Dr Pallas doubts not but it might pass the winter in the plains of mountainous northern countries where there is not much snow; nay, he even thinks it might augment their hardiness and strength, if we are to judge from the habits and treatment of the Iceland flocks, so well described by Anderson in his account of that island.

Dr Pallas remarked, that on mountainous pastures exposed to the sun, such as on the acclivity of the Uralic chain, the Russian or short-tailed sheep were larger, fatter, and had a finer fleece.

Crossing the breed with the Tscherekeffian or long-tailed sheep likewise mends both the stature and fleece of the trachura; whereas, in its own natural state, without admixture of other varieties of sheep, it is but small, lean, and produces, in the northern parts of Russia, a wool so extremely coarse as only to be fit for the cloth of peasants in a state of vassalage.

Whether coarseness of wool and leanness be indeed characteristic marks of this species, is, we think, extremely doubtful: we are rather inclined to consider them as mere accidental differences.

The Doctor's third variety, or steatopyga, which has a different name in almost every country where it is reared, is both the most abundant and largest breed of sheep in the world. It is reared throughout all the temperate regions of Asia, from the frontiers of Europe to those of China, in the vast plains of Tartary. All the Nomade hordes of Asia, the Turcomans, Kirguise, Calmucks, and Mongol Tartars, rear it; and indeed it constitutes their chief riches, the number they possess being enormous. The Persians also rear it in abundance; as likewise the Hottentots, as we are informed by Kolbe in his Travels to the Cape of Good Hope; whilst Olbeck, in his Journey to China, affirms, that the fat-tailed sheep are reared through that whole empire. We are told also by Shaw and the Abbé Demantet, that the same breed obtains in Syria, Mauritania, and the other regions of Africa, under some modifications of form, from different causes; so that Dr Pallas thinks there is sufficient evidence that the steatopyga, or fat-rumped sheep, is the most universally reared and multiplied of any breed in the world. The flocks of all the Tartar hordes resemble one another by a large yellowish muzzle, the upper jaw often projecting beyond the lower; by long hanging ears; by the horns of the adult ram being large, spiral, wrinkled, angular, and bent in a lunar form. The body of the ram, and sometimes of the ewe, swells gradually with fat towards the posterior; where a solid mass of fat is formed on the rump, and falls over the anus in place of a tail, divided into two hemispheres, which take the form of the hips, with a little button of a tail in the middle, to be felt with the finger.

See A fig. 16, plate CCCLXXI. The uropygium or fat rump, which is made up of this oily species of fat, is so very large as to inconvenience the animal in walking; but when the same sheep are carried into the interior parts of Russia, the tail loses half its size and weight, nay sometimes more, from a change in their food and mode of life. This variety, besides the characters mentioned above, have slender legs in proportion to their bodies, a high chest, large hanging teaticles, a large prepuce, and tolerably fine wool mixed with hair. Such are the great characteristic marks by which the flocks of all the Tartar hordes resemble one another; but climate, soil, &c., produce some small difference on this variety, whether reared by the Tartars or the Russians, in the western deserts of Great Tartary, from the river Volga to the Irtish, and the Altaic chain of mountains. In all that tract of country, the pastureage is mostly arid; and it abounds in acid and liaceous plants in spring, whilst in summer it produces, at least in the open spots where sheep delight to feed, besides gramen, bitter and aromatic plants, artemisia, camphorolina, and many species of salvia, abounding in juices and salts. There is likewise found everywhere an efflorescence of natron, with sea or glauers salt; nay, even the waters of the desert contain in general the same salts. Now it is almost unnecessary to inform European shepherds, that such pastureage has the effect of augmenting the size of sheep, if it produces no other change upon them; so that we see, in this instance, how some kind of difference may arise amongst sheep of the same breed merely from accidental causes, without the least admixture of heterogeneous blood. This variety changes greatly in size and in other incidental circumstances, according to the method of raising or of treating them in different places and by different people.

The fourth variety, raised by the Boucharian Tartars and Persians in great numbers, Dr Pallas regards as a mixed breed, arising, as he supposes, from the union of the first and third varieties, i.e. of the long and fat tailed sheep. The Doctor does not think that they ever attain to the size of either of their parents; though, as he never saw any full grown, he does not speak positively upon the subject. The head of this variety is like that of the Kirguise; but the muzzle is sharper, resembling the Indian of Buffon; the body is rather smaller than that of the Kirguise sheep; the ears are large and pendant; they have a small uropygium, like that of the Tartar sheep on the Jenify, especially when begotten by a Kirguise ram; but in general they have a tail fat and broad at the base, with a long narrow appendage, which resembles the tail of the Tscherekeffian sheep. The Boucharian Tartars have a very valuable traffic with the furs of the lambs of this variety, which are exquisitely fine and beautiful. This same variety is likewise raised in great numbers by the Persians; and it is more than probable, if we are to give credit to authors ancient and modern, that this very variety obtains in Syria, Palestine, and divers countries of Africa, known to them by the name of ovis macrocerus. It differs in all those countries from the fat-tailed, or steatopyga of Pallas, in having a long tail, fat and broad above, with a long narrow appendage, which is exactly the Great marked character of the Boucharian breed. Pliny tells us, that the Syrian sheep have long fat tails, and carry wool; and by Ruffel's account of them, in his Natural History of Aleppo, they resemble the Kirguise sheep in the head, face, and ears hanging on the cheeks; but the tail is that of the Boucharian, fat above, with a long lean appendage. He adds, that they are covered with a soft wool, which is another trait of resemblance with our present variety; and that they weigh sometimes 150 pounds, one third of which is the weight of the tail. Géfner, in his work on quadrupeds, tells us, that the Ara's sheep of Kay have nearly the same characteristic marks, especially with regard to the tail.

Shaw relates in his Travels, that sheep with such a compound tail are common in Mauritania, and in all the East; whilst Kolbe assures us, that the sheep which are brought on board the ships at the Cape of Good Hope have tails weighing 25 or 30 pounds, fat above, with a bony appendage hanging from it; and, lastly, the Abé Demantin, in his new History of Africa, says, that sheep are found in Africa covered with wool, and with such a tail as we have been describing; whilst at Cape Guarda, in the south of Africa, all the sheep are white, with rather small black heads, otherwise a large handsome breed, with broad fat tails, six or eight inches long.

The Doctor, however, does not entirely close his proofs here; for he quotes several passages from Moses in confirmation of what he has advanced, viz., that the Boucharian sheep obtain in Syria, Palestine, and divers countries of Africa. The passages he quotes are these: Leviticus viii. 25. ix. 19. But whether these verses prove what the Doctor has quoted them as proving, we will not determine.

These are the four varieties which Dr Pallas saw and examined in his extensive travels. The account is, we think, curious; to naturalists interesting; and to farmers it may be useful. If it only excites further research and minute inquiry, it will answer some purpose. Indeed, the man of science will not rest satisfied with what our pretended bounds have permitted us to bring forward, but will recur to the original work of the learned author to whom we are primarily indebted for the above account. We refer such readers, then, to his Speciegia Zoologica, fasciculus undecimus, printed at Berlin in 1776.

It may not be improper to describe the figures of these four varieties. They are all contained in Plate CCCLXXI. fig. 16. of which is the argali. Fig. 17. is a side and back view; letters Aa of the ram of the fleatopyga, or fat-rumped variety, in its greatest purity of breed, as obtaining among the Kirguise Tartars in the vast plains of Southern Tartary. The position of the animal marked with a shows the uropygium or fat rump. Letter b is a representation of the head of the same animal, with a couple of noneola hanging from the neck, called by the Russians ear-rings. Letter C is a drawing of another Kirguise ram with five horns, showing at same time the hanging position of the ears of this variety. Fig. 18. is a drawing of a degenerate breed of the fleatopyga variety of sheep, reared on the banks of the Jenify and Volga, without horns, and with the uropygium or fat rump greatly diminished, and one noneola. Letter b (fig. 19.) is a drawing of a ram of the same variety of sheep, from the flocks of the Jenify Kirguise, with four horns symmetrically arranged by nature, as is frequently the case with this breed.

In a supplement to his article Sheep, Buffon has these words respecting the fleatopygos: "Here give Buffon, 22 figures," says the Count (see Plate CCCLXXI. above, fig. 14. and 15.) "of a ram and ewe, of which drawings were sent me by the late Mr Collinson, fellow of the Royal Society of London, under the names of the Walachian ram and ewe. As this learned naturalist died soon afterwards, I could not discover whether these sheep, whose horns are extremely different from those of the ordinary kind, be common in Walachia, or whether they are only an accidental variety."

"In the northern parts of Europe, as Denmark and Norway, the sheep are not good; but, to improve the breed, rams are occasionally imported from England. In the islands adjacent to Norway, the sheep remain in the fields during the whole year; and they become larger and produce finer wool than those which are under the care and direction of men. It is alleged, that those sheep which enjoy perfect liberty always sleep, during the night, on that side of the island from whence the wind is to blow next day. This natural indication of the weather is carefully attended to by the mariners."

"The rams, ewes, and wethers of Iceland, differ piddan's chiefly from ours by having larger and thicker horns. Some of them have three, four, and even five horns. But this peculiarity of having more horns than two, must not be considered as common to the whole race of Iceland sheep; for in a flock of four or five hundred, hardly three or four wethers can be found with four or five horns, and these are sent to Copenhagen as rarities. As a farther proof of their being scarce, they give a higher price in Iceland than the common kind."

In Spain and the southern parts of Europe, the flocks of sheep are kept in shades or stables during the night; but in Britain, where there is now no danger from wolves, they are allowed to remain without, both night and day; which makes the animals more healthy, and their flesh a more wholesome food. Dry and mountainous grounds, where thyme and sheep's fescue grass abound, are the best for the pasturing sheep.

The sheep is subject to many diseases: some arising from insects which deposit their eggs in different parts of the animal; others are caused by their being kept in wet pastures; for as the sheep requires but little drink, it is naturally fond of a dry soil. The dropsy, vertigo (the pendro of the Welsh), the phthisis, jaundice, and worms in the liver, annually make great havoc.

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(n) Dr Pallas thinks it very probable that the fleatopygos variety of sheep were produced by propagating a particular configuration of horns. He alludes to the animal which Bellonius first discovered on Mount Ida in Crete, and which he supposes the fleatopygos of the ancients. vock among our flocks: for the first disease, the shepherd finds a remedy by turning the infected into fields of broom; which plant has been also found to be very efficacious in the same disorder among the human species.—The sheep is also infected by different sorts of insects: like the horse, it has its peculiar cætus or gadfly, which deposits its eggs above the nose in the frontal sinuses (see Oestrus): when these turn into maggots, they become excessively painful, and cause those violent agitations that we so often see the animal in. The French shepherds make a common practice of easing the sheep, by trepanning and taking out the maggot; this practice is sometimes used by the English shepherds, but not always with the same success. Besides these insects, the sheep is troubled with a kind of tick and louse, which magpies and starlings contribute to ease it of, by lighting on its back, and picking the insects off.

We had intended to have introduced into this article some observations from Pennant; but it has already extended beyond its just limits, and we dare not venture to extend it further. Under the article Wool, which is intimately connected with the present, we may perhaps have an opportunity of introducing some additional remarks not without importance. At all events, we trust by that time to be able to give a favourable report of that truly patriotic society which has been lately instituted in this part of the united kingdom for meliorating the breed of sheep, and in consequence the nature and quality of the wool. From the active and indefatigable exertions of Sir John Sinclair, baronet, the president of that society, we have every thing to hope from well conducted experiments, and nothing to fear from groundless hypotheses.