Distinctions between ruE ijhkep and goat. 



11 



and the original form of the teeth, have all a greater or 

 less influence over their durabiHty. 



(18.) Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat. — 

 Though a comparison of the most common domesticated 

 breeds of sheep and goats, tends to confirm the broad 

 distinctions drawn between them, yet these differences 

 almost entirely disappear, when we attempt to define 

 the characteristics of those races, which still exist in a 

 wild state in various parts of both Continents, where 

 it is so far impossible to determine the precise division 

 to which they belong, that Cuvier holds them unworthy 

 of a generic separation. Sheep and goats, in fact, agree 

 in so many points as regards structure, form, stature, 

 and habil, that were it not that sheep, according to 

 that naturalist, have " their horns directed backwards, 

 returning more or less forwards in a spiral manner, 

 with a generally convex line of profile, and no beard," 

 while the goats have " their horns directed upwards 

 and backwards, their chins generally decorated with a 

 long beard, and their line of profile almost always con- 

 cave," there would hardly exist a difference worth the 

 noting. Some writers place great reliance on the dif- 

 ferences indicated by the different coverings of the 

 animals, ascribing wool to the sheep, and hair to the 

 goat, forgetting that most of the wild sheep, and some 

 of the domesticated races, are covered with hair, while 

 some goats, as those of Thibet and Angora, are re- 

 markable for the fineness of their wool. Even suppos- 

 ing these distinctions to hold good, we have still to 

 combat the fact, that sheep and goats produce mongrels 

 capable of reproduction, a consideration sufficient of 



