FOUR-HORNED SHEEP 285 



South Oxfordshire Hounds, in which there are two complete 

 canines on each side of the upper jaw, one behind the other, 

 giving a most remarkable appearance to the head. As 

 already said, the complete duplication of the upper canine 

 may quite possibly be an extreme development of the 

 imperfect fission noticeable in the other specimens ; but, on 

 the other hand, it may be due to the growth of a supple- 

 mental germ which exists at the root of most mammalian 

 teeth, but, as a rule, remains dormant throughout life. 



To return to our sheep. It has now to be mentioned 

 that the development of two or more additional horns in 

 these animals is by no means the only abnormality which not 

 infrequently makes its appearance in connection with these 

 appendages. There is, on the contrary, an equally marked 

 tendency to "sport " in the opposite direction — that is to say, 

 to the coalescence of the normal pair so as to give rise to 

 what are practically unicorn-sheep. 



These unicorn-sheep have a much more restricted habitat 

 than their many-horned cousins, being apparently confined 

 to a certain portion of the Himalaya or Tibet, although they 

 are not referred to by Brian Hodgson in his paper on the 

 tame sheep and goats of the Sub-Himalayas and Tibet, 

 already referred to. 



Three specimens of the horns of this remarkable breed 

 of sheep are known to be preserved in England, two of 

 them being in the British Museum (to which they were 

 presented by Hodgson), while the third is in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons, as the gift of Colonel 

 Finch in 1830. The latter is described in the Museum 

 Catalogue in the following words : '* The horns have grown 

 parallel to each other, and are firmly united throughout 

 their whole extent, producing the appearance of a single 

 horn, the extremity of which has been sawed off, probably 



