480 



The Joi'RNAL OF IIi:ri-;i)Itv 



ANCESTOR OF DOMESTIC GOATS 



The Pasang or so-called Grecian Ibex (Capra hirtus, var. aegagriis). Although Dr. Dettweiler 

 seems not wholly to accept the theory, most zoologists are firmly convinced that the Pasang 

 is the ancestor of the domesticated goat of the present day {Capra hirtus typica). In the 

 time of Homer it was common in Greece, but now is confineil principally to Asia Minor, 

 Persia, and Afghanistan. R. Lydekker says the vSwiss domesticated goat is "certainly 

 its descendant" and that it probably is the foundation of all other modern breeds, although 

 local crossings with other wild species may have aided in producing the diverse modern 

 races. It is a slender animal, three feet high at the shoulder, and ranges far up in the 

 mountains, usually avoiding the lowlands altogether. Pliotograpli by E. R. Sanborn, 

 New York Zoological vSociety. (Fig. 4.) 



times we have some ground for drawinj^ 

 conclusions as to where the Celts 

 settled on various occasions. We can 

 follow them through Germany and 

 Jutland, southern Sweden and Norway, 

 into France, Great Britain, Spain and 

 finally Asia Minor. 



SWINE EARLY TAiMED. 



Swine seem to be an older acquisition 

 of the race, since Celts and Germans 

 posses-sed the same breed, a huge hog 

 with pendulous ears. No wild form 

 of this type is now in existence — it has 

 died out along with the wild ox, the ur. 



or aurochs, which finniishcd the inaterial 

 that made up domestic cattle. The 

 short-eared swine of eastern Ger- 

 many did not arrive until the invasion 

 of the Slavs. 



We can distinguish \-arious breed of 

 sheep, without being in a position 

 today to say whence they came. The 

 Neolithic i)eo])le had serveral types. 



As for goats, researches still in prog- 

 ress show that we have two very 

 difTerent fonns, neither of which is of 

 known ancestry. Atigst has ])roved that 

 there is a German goat, with curved 

 horns, and a Celtic form with larger. 



