RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



345 



. .tlued CotawoMtt of UlouwHtorshire havo gradually ap- 



.;itcd to tho Leicester*, and oven the hardy and useful 

 i')i. -M.it, sh. . ], I .wo f.-lt tho influence of the pot breed. We 



<>t stop to doHoribo the former Jersey whoop, uid to have 

 had five and oven six horns on the head ; nor can we perplex 

 the reader by attempting to answer the question, how black 

 cheep originate in a flock. Wo shall also resist the strong 

 temptation to discuss the evidence for 



L I imt a primitive roco of black 



lint tin TO is a question which cannot 

 be passed over entirely. Oo wo know 

 in of all our domesticated sheep ? 

 Most naturalists now agree in tracing all 

 these varieties to tho Moujlon or Mumon t 

 the wild sheep still found in tho thinly- 

 peopled regions of Southern and Eastern 

 Europe. Tho traveller and tho hunter 

 may yet meet them in the mountains of 

 Corsica, Sardinia, Crete, and perhaps 

 in tho highlands of Murcia. This is a 



bold and active, though small animal, measuring about thrco 

 and a-luilf feet long, and a littlo above two feet high. Tho 

 sharply-curved horns are usually about two feet long, and 

 the body is covered, according to Mr. Bell, with a close, 

 short, and fine hair, over which falls tho long and coarse wool. 

 Kvt'n upon this simple matter there is a dispute. Many 

 naturalists assert that tho wool id the short and first covering 

 of the skin, and the long overhanging mass is really hair. This 

 dispute can be settled by tho microscope only, and we must 

 tako Mr. Bell's side 



Mountain breed (Ovit Montana), baring large horn* ana a long 

 hairy covering. Whether these four wild rarbtia* hav* been 

 unreclaimed from tho beginning of Urn*, U a question not likely 

 to be answered in a satisfactory manner. It may even bit 

 questioned whether one or two of toe four do not belong to the 

 goat instead of the sheep family. Thu may prore to be the 

 oaae when now Cuvien and Owen* hall be able to examine mot* 

 folly the structure of the Aryali, or of 

 the bearded sheep. It doe* not, however, 

 appear very probable that oar present 

 cUvMJfication will be disturbed by duoo- 



FIBRES OF WOOL (HIOHLT MAGNIFIED). 



in this controversy 

 the outer cover- 

 ing of the Mouflou ia 

 woolly. We must 

 inform the reader 

 that Colonel Hamil- 

 ton Smith seems to 

 question the Mou- 

 flon's claim to be the 

 ancestor of all the 

 common varieties. 

 He regards this wild 

 kind as really de- 

 scended from indi- 

 viduals of the domes- 

 ticated sheep, which 

 have at some time 

 escaped from tho 

 dominion of man. 



Another wild 

 sliesp, the Argali 

 (Oifis Amman) of 

 Central Asia, is 

 sometimes five feet 

 long, and often pos- 

 sesses horns of an 

 extraordinary size. 

 It appears to have 

 an under-coat of 

 wool and an upper 

 of hair. Tho Argali 

 has an exceedingly 

 wide range, extend- 

 ing from tho east of 

 Siberia across the 

 wild uplands of 

 Mantchuria and 

 Mongolia to tho shores of the Caspian Sea. 



Tcrie* yet to be made. 



Curious deviation* from the oraal form 

 aro found in tome breed* of sheep. The 

 Calmuck variety exhibit* two Urge hump* 

 of fat over each hind leg, giving to the 

 animal an appearance at which Euro- 

 pean* laugh. In the Syrian sheep, we 

 havo tho mas* of fat collected in a tail 

 eighteen inches wide. 



Observation of sheep in their wild state 



completely refutes the notion that these animals are a stupid 

 and helpless race. They will find their way up and down pre- 

 cipices inaccessible to lunian foot, and manage to provide for 

 their subsistence and safety without the care of shepherd* and 

 dogs. We know that the domesticated Syrian sheep will answer 

 to its name when called, just like a dog, running oat from the 

 flock to the shepherd at his summons. 



We have already alluded to the double covering of wool and 

 hair on the body of the wild sheep, and a few reader* may not 



know that the fleece* . 

 of our domesticated 

 breeds have hair 

 mixed with the wool. 

 The result of culture 

 ia a decrease of the 

 hair and increase of 

 the wool, and the 

 quality of the bitter 

 itself is materially 

 changed by the food 

 and training of the 

 animal. The colder 

 the climate the finer 

 and closer, is the 

 wool, as a general 

 rule, while in warm 

 regions the hairy 

 covering predomi- 

 nates. All this ia 

 in exact accordance 

 with the require- 

 ments of the animal 

 temperature. The 

 hair can sometime* 

 bo distinguished 

 from the wool in c, 

 fleece by the eye 

 only, but tho aid of 

 the microscope is 

 usually employed. 

 Under such inspec- 

 tion the peculiar or- 

 ganisation of wool- 

 len fibre and it* ad- 

 mirable fitness for 

 felting are clearly 

 seen. Let one of oar 

 Some naturalists i readers examine for himself a thread of wool, under a strong 



THE AROALI OF CENTRAL ASIA (Ol'lS AmmOn). 



look upon this as the parent of our domesticated sheep, while 

 others regard it as a variety of the Mouflon. This diversity of 

 opinion proves that wo are really ignorant of the primary race. 



Africa also has her wild breed of sheep, which are called 

 " bearded," the long hairs depending from each cheek having the 

 appearance of a double beard. Tho wool of this animal seems 

 to be very short, while over it falls a mass of hair, fourteen 

 inches long. 



microscope. He will see that the fibre i* not smooth, bat 

 marked by a multitude of projections, crossing the thread in 

 zigzag or wavy lines. So numerous axe these points that more 

 than 2,000 have been counted on one inch of woollen fibre. 

 The reader will easily understand that, when a masa of wool 

 is beaten together, all these projections act like so many hooks, 

 holding fibre to fibre, and binding the whole into a /<!<. This 

 peculiar structure of the wool is, doubtless, of use to the sheep, 



Americaj too, has her wild sheep, sometimes called the E-joky ( rendering its covering closer than it oould otherwise be. 



But 



