104 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



regarded by Cu- 

 vier as identi- 

 cal with the Big 

 Horn. TheMou- 

 flon of Sardinia, 

 O. imtsimon, Pall, 

 differs in being 

 smaller, and in 

 the smallness or 

 deficiency of the 

 horns of the fe- 

 male. 



The Mouflon 

 of Barbary, O. 

 tragdapJins, Cuv. f 

 has soft and red- 

 dish hair, with a 

 long mane under 



thp 



It is 



Mountain Sheep, or Big-horn, O. montana, Cuv. 



from the Mouflon and Argali that our numerous do- 

 mestic varieties are supposed to have sprung. Of these 

 the Merino from Spain is one of the most noted, on ac- 

 count of the length and the fineness of its wool. Persia, 

 and countries of Asia farther east, furnish a variety whose 

 tail is a double globe of fat. Syria and Egypt have a 

 variety whose tail is so long, and so loaded with fat, that 

 it attains a weight of fifty to one hundred pounds. 



The Genus Capra Goats is characterized by horns 

 directed upwards and backwards ; and the chin is gen- 

 erally furnished with a long beard, and the chanfrin is 

 generally concave. This genus is not represented in 

 America, the so-called Rocky Mountain Goat being con- 

 sidered an antelope, as before stated. Goats are exceed- 

 ingly active, and the wild species inhabit high and rugged 

 parts of the mountains, where they subsist upon coarse 



