Chai-. III. GOATS. 105 



even the fleeces of half-bred animals are valuable, aud are 

 known in France as the " Mauchamp-merino." It is inter- 

 esting, as showing how generally any marked deviation of 

 structure is accompanied by other deviations, that the first 

 ram and his immediate offspring wei-e of small size, with 

 large heads, long necks, narrow chests, and long flanks ; but 

 these blemishes were removed by judicious crosses and selec- 

 tion. The long smooth wool was also correlated with smooth 

 horns ; and as horns and hair are homologous structures, 

 we can understand the meaning of this correlation. If the 

 Mauchamp and ancon breeds had originated a century or two 

 ago, we should have had no record of their birth ; and many 

 a naturalist would no doubt have insisted, especially in the 

 case of the Mauchamp race, that they had each descended 

 from, or been crossed with, some unknown aboriginal form. 



Goats. 



Fkom the recent researches of M. Brandt, most naturalists now 

 believe that all our goats are descended from the Capra cegagrus 

 of the mountains of Asia, possibly mingled with the allied 

 Indian species C. falconeri of India.^^ In Switzerland, during 

 the neolithic period, the domestic goat was commoner than the 

 sheep ; and this very ancient race differed in no respect from 

 that now common in Switzerland.^* At the present time, the 

 many races found in several parts of the world differ greatly 

 from each other ; nevertheless, as far as they have been tried,^^ 

 they are all quite fertile when crossed. So numerous are the 

 breeds, that Mr. G. Clark ^°° has described eight distinct kinds 

 imported into the one island of Mauritius. The ears of one 

 kind were enormously developed, being, as measured by 

 Mr. Clark, no less than 19 inches in length and 4^ inches in 

 breadth. As with cattle, the mammte of those breeds which 

 are regularly milked become greatly developed ; and, as 



"Isidore Geoffroy St, HUaire, '^ Riitimeyer, ' Pfahlbauten,'s. 127. 



'Hist. Mat. Generale,' torn. iii. p. 87. ** Godron, ' De I'Esp&ce,' torn. i. p, 



Mr. Blytli ('Land and Water,' 1867, 402. 



p. 37) has arrived at a similar con- """ 'Annals and Mng. of Kat 



elusion, but he thinks that certain History,' vol. ii. (2nd series), 1848 



Eastern races may perhaps be in part p. 363. 

 descended from the Asiatic markhor. 



