on Merino Sheep and JFool. gja 



8, 26, and 27. All the other specimens were necessarily from unknown parts, but 

 were carefully chosen as the very finest of the whole sample within my reach. The 

 sex of the animal was not positively known except where expressed ; but, in other 

 cases, was, probably, always the female. 



Except in those instances in which I received the wool in an unscoured state, I 

 could not always precisely ascertain the different end,-; of.the filament. The speci- 

 mens, of which I was thus obliged to judge from probability, were those to which are 

 prefixed the numbers 3, 4, 7, g, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, and 31. In every case, 

 the measurements were taken from the first ten filaments which presented them- 

 selves with sufficient distinctness. 



From these measurements it appears, 



1st. That the wool of one of my ewes was considerably finer than that of any other 

 kind which I had an opportunity of examining; and the wool of another nearly as 

 fine as the best Spanish pile. 



2dly. That the wool of two of my rams, both of which sprung from Merino-Ryeland 

 sjres, with ewes of the same cross, was finer than that of any raiu of any breed, 

 which it has been in my power to measure j and that of one of them superior to any 

 imported wool of either sex. 



3dly. That the wool of all my rams, similarly descended, which I have measured, 

 was finer than that of 3 out of 5 of the pure Merinos. 



4thly. That the Negrette breed of sheep is greatly improved in its wool by having 

 been introduced into England; the specimen from the Royal flock which I have 

 measured, being finer not only than the finest of that pile which I have been able to 

 procure from Spain, but than any other Spanish pile which I have seen. 



5thly. That the Merino wool may be considerably improved in fineness by an 

 admixture of the Ryeland breed, and afterwards by breeding in and in from the 

 4th cross with that breed; the ram No. 6 being the grandson of Ko, 11, and 

 the great grandson of No. 27, all from ewes of the 4th cross. 



6thly. That in a coarse-woolled breed of sheep, as that of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, 4 crosses of the pure Merino are by no means capable of bringing the wool 

 of the produce to an equality in fineness with the paternal race. 



7thly. That so far as these observations go, the form of the filaments of clothing 

 wool is not that of two cones joined together by their apices, but that of a single 

 cone, of which the apex is next the skin. 



