404 Dr"' Parry's Essay on the Nature, Produce, Origin, 



There is another and a still more remarkable coincidence, I believe absolutely 

 peculiar to the Merino breed ; which is, the practice of killing a considerable num- 

 ber of the lambs very shortly after they are yeaned. This custom of the Spaniards 

 I have already noted at length ; and Columella is very minute in his description of 

 it among the Romans, with whom the motives were exactly the same as with the 

 Spaniards. " In this breed," says he, " there is litde profit from the sale of the 

 *' lambs, and none from the milk of the ewes: for those lambs which ought to be 

 " taken away, are generally killed a very few days after they are yeaned; and the 

 " ewes, thus deprived of their young, give suck to the progeny of others. In fact, 

 " each lamb is provided with two nurses, and ought to be robbed of none of their 

 " milk, in order that it may grow the more quickly from plenty of food, and that 

 *' the dam, by the association of its fellow nurse, may sufiFer the less from bringing 

 " up its young." " Minimus agnis vendundis in hac pecude, nee uUus lactis reditus 

 " haberi potest ; nam et qui submoveri debent, paucissimos post dies quam editi 

 " sunt, immaturi fere mactantur, orbaeque naiis suis matres, aliense soboli praebent 

 " ubera. Quippe singuli agni binis nutricibus submiituntur ; nee quicquam sub- 

 " trahi submissis expedit, quo saturior lactis agnus celeriter confirmetur, et parta 

 " nutrici consociata minus laboret in educatione foetus sui."* 



This agreement in so many important particulars of form, fleece, constitution, 

 and general treatment, proves, I think, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the pre- 

 sent Merinos are the same as the ancient Tarentine sheep of Apulia. 



In the southern parts of Italy sheep still exist, distinguished by different names ; 

 as " bianche gentile," fine-woolled white; " bianche di pelo lungo," long-woolled 

 white; " nere gentile," fine-woolled black ; " nere di pclo lungo," long-woolled 

 black; " carfagne," " carapellese," &c. These appellations are evidently given 

 from the colour, length, and other qualities of the wool ; but whether among this 

 number there are more than two really distinct breeds, I am unable to say. It 

 seems, however, that about a million and a half of these breeds in Abruzzo and 

 Puglia still make annual voyages, under regulations established by the government, 

 which allows them salt, at half the current price, at the rate of about 54 or 55 

 pounds per thousand.t 



• Coliimcllx vii. 4. 



f See a long account of these sheep from Galanti's History of Naples, by Lasteyrie ; Traite 

 sur les Bctes-a-Iaine d'Espagne, page 205. 



