RUMINANTIA. 179 



Those of India and of Guinea, which also have long tails, are dis- 

 tinguished by their long legs, very convex foreheads, pendent ears, 

 want of horns, and short hair. 



The north of Europe and of Asia has almost every where a breed 

 of small sheep with a very short tail. In the race of Persia, Tar- 

 tary, and China, the tail is transformed into a double globe of fat ; 

 in that of Syria and Barbary it is long, but loaded with an immense 

 mass of the same substance. In both, the ears are pendent, the 

 horns of the males large, those of the females moderate, and the 

 wool is mixed with hair. 



Sheep are valuable for their flesh, suet, milk, skin, wool, and 

 dung; well managed flocks carry fertility every where. Lambs are 

 weaned at two months, are castrated at six months, and shed their 

 milk teeth between the first and third year. The ewe can bear at a 

 year, and produce from ten to twelve lambs. The period of gestation 

 is five months, and two lambs are produced at a birth. The ram is 

 mature at eighteen months, and is let out to thirty ewes — he is fat- 

 tened at eight years. 



Bos, Lin. 



Oxen have the horns directed laterally, inclining upwards or forwards, 

 in the form of crescents ; they are large animals, with a broad muzzle, 

 short and thick body, and stout legs. 



B. taurus, L. ; Bufl". IV. xvi. (The Common Ox). Its specific 

 characters are a flat forehead, longer than broad, and round horns, 

 placed at the extremities of the salient line or ridge which separates 

 the forehead from the occiput. In the fossil crania, which appear to 

 have belonged to tiiis species in a wild state (the Urus of the an- 

 tients), the horns curve forwards and downwards ; but in the num- 

 berless domestic varieties, they have very different directions and 

 sizes — sometimes they are even totally wanting. The common races 

 of the torrid zone have, all, a lump of fat upon the shoulders, and 

 some of thom are not larger than the Hog. The utility of these 

 animals for labour, and the value of their flesh, fat, milk, and hide, 

 are known to every one : even their horns are used in the arts. The 

 period of gestation is nine months. The cow can bear at eighteen 

 months — the bull is mature at two years ; he is cut at two and fat- 

 tened at eight years. 



B. urus, Gm. ; Urus or Bison of the ancients ; Zubr of the Po- 

 landers; Gesn. CLVII. (The Aurochs). Generally, but errone- 

 ously, considered as the wild stock of our horned cattle. It is 

 distinguished from them by its convex forehead, which is wider than 

 it is high, by the insertion of its horns below the occipital crest, by 

 the length of its legs, by an additional pair of ribs, by a sort of curly 

 wool, which covers the head and neck of the bull, forming a short 

 beard under the throat, and by its grunting voice. It is a savage 

 animal that has now taken refuge in the great marshy forests of 

 Lithuania, of the Krapacs, and of Caucasus, but which formerly 



