2G8 ^ag Sermons, (Essags, mtir IJUfaiefos. |_ X1L 



by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram ; and they advised 

 Wright to kill the old patriarch of his fold, and install 

 the Ancon ram in his place. The result justified their 

 sagacious anticipations, and coincided very nearly with 

 what occurred to the progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The 

 young lambs were almost always either pure Ancons, or 

 pure ordinary sheep. 1 But when sufficient Ancon sheep 

 were obtained to interbreed with one another, it was 

 found that the offspring was always pure Ancon. Colonel 

 Humphreys, in fact, states that he was acquainted with 

 only "one questionable ease of a contrary nature. " 

 Here, then, is a remarkable and well-established instance, 

 not only of a very distinct race being established per 

 saltum, but of that race breeding " true " at once, and 

 showing no mixed forms, even when crossed with another 

 breed. 



By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, for 

 breeding from, it thus became easy to establish an ex- 

 tremely well-marked race ; so peculiar that, even when 

 herded with other sheep, it was noted that the Ancons 

 kept together. And there is every reason to believe that 

 the existence of this breed might have been indefinitely 

 protracted ; but the introduction of the Merino sheep, 

 which were not only very superior to the Ancons in wool 

 and meat, but quite as quiet and orderly, led to the com- 

 plete neglect of the new breed, so that, in 1813, Colonel 

 Humphreys found it difficult to obtain the specimen, 



1 Colonel Humphreys* statements are exceedingly explicit on this point : 

 "When an Ancon ewe is impregnated by a common ram, the increase 

 resembles wholly either the ewe or the ram. The increase of the common 

 ewe impregnated by an Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the other, 

 without blending any of the distinguishing and essential peculiarities of both. 

 Frequent instances have happened where common ewes have had twins by 

 Ancon rams, when one exhibited the complete marks and features of the 

 ewe, the other of the ram. The contrast has been rendered singularly 

 striking, when one short-legged and one long-legged lamb, produced at a 

 birth, have been seen sucking the dam at the same time." Philosophical 

 Transactions, 1813, Pt. I., pp. 89, 90. 



