COLLECTION OF MAMMALIA. 33l 



furnishes the wool of which the Cashmere shawls 

 are made. In the twelfth case is the Caucasan 

 ibex (capra cegagrus] , which lives in herds on 

 the mountains of Persia, where it is known by the 

 name of paseng ; it appears to be the parent of all 

 our varieties of domestic goats ( i ) . After it, comes 

 the ibex, an inhabitant of the highest mountains, 

 and remarkable for the uncommon size of its horns. 



The thirteenth case contains the various races 

 of sheep of which the muffoli of Corsica and 

 Sardinia might be considered the parent. Beneath 

 it is the African muffoli (pvis tragelaphus) , to 

 which a long mane hanging under the neck , andan- 

 other which forms ruffles round each ancle, give 

 a very singular appearance. This species inhabits 

 the rocky countries of Barbary and Upper Egypt. 



On the higher shelf of the fourteenth and last 

 case, we see a race of sheep originally from 

 Persia and Tartary. The tail of this race enlarges 

 from the insertion, and gradually transforms itself 

 into a double lobe of fat, weighing from fifteen 

 to twenty pounds (2). 



Here terminates the collection of mammalia. 

 The numerous family of the ruminantia, which 



(1) In the intestines of the aegagrus is found the concretion called 

 egagropyla, or oriental bezoar. 



(2) The Astracan sheep, and that from Upper Egypt, vvith a very 

 short tail, belong to this race. This last was given to the Museum 

 by H. U. H. the duke of Orleans. 



