May 6, 192 2 J 



NATURE 



595 



Sheep-Breeding and Ancestry.^ 



IN the report referred to below. Prof. Ewart first 

 briefly reviews the facts and beliefs about sheep, 

 and, under nine concise statements, summarises our 

 knowledge of the origin and development of present- 



URlAL. MOUFFLON. AMMON. 



URIAL-SOAY MOUFFLON-SOAX rAT-TAILED. FAT^RUMPCC. 



MEDIEVAL-MIXED-SOAY 



FAT-TAIL ED X FAT-RUMP E D. 



EARLV-ELUROPEAN'AND-AFRICAN-BREEDS. 

 Fig. I. 



day types. Much of the work upon which this 

 summary is based is attributable directly to the 

 extensive researches, extending over many years, 

 which Prof. Ewart himself has conducted. In Figs. 



e ARLV-EUROPEAN-AND-AFRlCAN-BREeDS, 



LATER.MOUNTAlN-BREeDS 



LUSTRE-BRtEDS. MOUNT AIIN-BREEDS 



down-breeds. 

 Fig. 2. 



I and 2 the results of these researches are represented 

 diagrammatically. 



From Fig. i it will be gathered that the primitive 

 sheep of Europe was of the Soay type, this type 



having a double ancestry in the Urial or horned 

 sheep and the Moufflon or hornless sheep. Both 

 these types are in evidence to-day in Soay flocks 

 and both are still short-tailed. Nevertheless, both 



' Report on Sheep-breeding Experiments. By Prof. J. Cossar Ewart. 

 British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, 

 Torridon, Headingley, Leeds. 



NO. 2740, VOL. 109] 



these types cross freely with long- tailed sheep. The 

 modern sheep would seem to have obtained both its 

 tail and its fattening characteristics through the 

 fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep of Asia. It is 

 further conceivable that the Soay 

 X Fat-tailed or Soay x Fat-rumped sheep 

 followed two lines of migration across 

 Europe — one to the north, coming eventu- 

 ally into the British Isles through the 

 kingdom of Scandinavia, and the other 

 along the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 developing eventually into the Merino 

 sheep of Spain, and in this form 

 taking part in the formation of the British 

 "Down" breeds. In Fig. 2 this latter 

 suggestion is illustrated diagrammatically 

 and the ancestry of present-day sheep 

 indicated. 



There is still a " drift " southwards of 

 sheep from Scotland and a " drift " north- 

 wards of sheep from the south of England. 

 It may be that these two drifts are a 

 relic of the drifts of the Nordic and Medi- 

 terranean races across the British Isles; but 

 such a theory would need many more facts than are 

 at present available to support it. There is, how- 

 ever, direct support for Prof. Ewart's suggestion 

 respecting our present-day sheep having a fat-tailed 

 ancestor. In Fig. 4 is 

 illustrated the normal 

 head and ears of the 

 Suffolk Down type of 

 sheep. In Fig. 3 is 

 given a photograph 

 of a lamb discovered 

 among a number of 

 this year's Suffolk 

 lambs ; and in Fig. 5 

 an illustration of a 

 sheep with the fat- 

 tailed head. The 

 similarity is very strik- 

 ing. Further, the suggestion that at the base of 

 English Down breed is the Merino is illustrated 



EARLV-MERINO-BREEO 8 



MERINO-BREEDS. FINE-MERINO-BREED S. 



Fig. 5. — Head of a 2i-days'-old e.'ctracted Fat-tail ram lamb. From 

 the Scottish Journal of Agriculture. By permission of the Board of Agri- 

 culture for Scotland. 



in Fig. 4, a Suffolk Down lamb with " crinkled 

 skin " — this crinkled skin being very characteristic 

 of sheep of the Merino type. In further support 



