650 UNGULATA. 



Some varieties present a different mode of producing fat, and deposit 

 a large amount of fatty matter in the tail. Fat-tailed Sheep are found in 

 many parts of the world, and are much valued on account of the pecu- 

 liarity from which they derive their name. The Syrian variety is 

 remarkable for the enormous dimensions of the tail, which in highly 

 fattened and carefully tended specimens will weigh from seventy to 

 eighty pounds. So large, indeed, are the tails, and so weighty are they, 

 that the shepherds are forced to protect them from the ground by tying 

 flat pieces of board to their under surface. Sometimes they add a pair 

 of little wheels to the end which drags on the ground, in order to save 

 the animal the trouble of drawing the bare board over the rough earth. 

 The fat which is procured from the tail is highly valued, and is used in 

 lieu of butter, as well as to " lard " meat that would otherwise be un- 

 pleasantly dry and tasteless. It is also melted down and poured into 

 jars of preserved meat, for the purpose of excluding the air. These 

 sheep are most carefully watched, and are generally fed by hand. 



The Afghan Fat-tail has very fine silky wool, the Persian is remark- 

 able for its contrasts of color, the body being white, the head a deep 

 black. In all Northern and Central Africa, as well as in Arabia, these 

 Fat-tailed Sheep are common. 



THE CRETAN, OR WALLACHIAN SHEEP. 



The Cretan Sheep (Plate L) is a native of Western Asia and the 

 adjacent portions of Europe, and is ver^^ common in Crete, Wallachia, 

 and Hungary. The horns of the VVallachian Sheep are strikingly like 

 those of the Koodoo, or the Addax, their dimensions being propor- 

 tionately large, and their form very similar. The first spiral turn is 

 always the largest, and the horns are not precisely the same in every 

 specimen. As a general rule, they rise boldly upward from the skull, 

 being set almost perpendicularly upon the head ; but in others, there is 

 considerable variety in the formation of the spirals and the direction of 

 the tips. In one specimen which was preserved in the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society, the first spiral of the horns was curved downward, 

 and their tips were directed toward the ground. 



The fleece of this animal is composed of a soft woolly undercoat, 

 covered with and protected by long drooping hairs. This wool is 



