FOUR-HORNED SHEEP 281 



Horn-development among domesticated cattle, however, 

 seems to be restricted to increase in size, with some com- 

 paratively slight degree of modification in regard to general 

 form and curvature ; and it does not appear that any breed 

 is known in which the horns are permanently characterised 

 by an abnormality in structure. 



Very different is the case in sheep, in which the horns 

 seem to lend themselves with great facility to abnormal 

 development in several directions. The typical form of 

 horn is familiar to us in the wild sheep of Europe and 

 Asia as well as in the old classical sculptures of Jupiter 

 Ammon ; and this type, although much reduced in size, 

 is fairly well retained in the modern Dorset and merino 

 breeds. In old rams of both breeds there is, however, a 

 tendency to produce a spiral of greater length than 

 ever occurs in v/ild sheep ; and this tendency is perhaps 

 even more noticeable in the mountain breeds of Scotland 

 and Wales. In all the above breeds the original close 

 and incurved horizontal spiral is, however, preserved. 

 But in the so-called Wallachian breed of Eastern Europe 

 the horns take the form of upwardly directed corkscrews, 

 mimicking in fact to a certain degree those of the beau- 

 tiful African kudu antelope. A single skull in the old 

 Hunterian collection of the Royal College of Surgeons 

 indicates the existence of a closely allied if not identical 

 breed of sheep in Sumatra. 



A far more curious modification produced by domesti- 

 cation is, however, displayed by the augmentation in the 

 number of the horns ; two, three, four, or even six extra 

 horns being sometimes noticeable. When a pair of such 

 additional horns are developed they usually occupy the 

 upper and fore part of the head, and are of a more slender 

 shape and take a more upright direction than the normal 



