720 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



lachrymal sinuses. The throat is furnished with long hair, 

 forming a beard; and this appendage is usually present in both 

 sexes, though sometimes in the males only. The goats live 

 in herds, usually in mountainous and nigged districts. The 

 domestic Goat (Capra hircus) is generally believed to be a 

 descendant of a species which occurs in a wild state in Persia 

 and in the Caucasus (the " Paseng," or Capra agagrus). The 

 true Sheep (Ovis} are destitute of a beard, and the horns though 

 triangular and transversely ridged, are more cylindrical than in 

 the Goats, and are generally twisted into a spiral. Horns may 

 be present in both sexes, or in the males only.'" Lachrymal 

 sinuses are invariably absent. 



Numerous varieties of the domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are known, but it 

 is not certainly known from what wild species these were originally derived. 

 Some, at any rate, of the domesticated breeds, more especially the smaller 

 short-tailed breeds, with crescent-shaped horns, appear to be descended 

 from the wild species known as the "Moufflon," which is found in Corsica 

 and Sardinia. The Merino Sheep (a Spanish breed) and the Thibet Sheep 

 are particularly celebrated for their long and fine wool. With the excep- 

 tion of one species (the Big-horn, Ovis montana), all the Sheep appear to 

 be originally natives of the Old World. The Big-horn, however, inhabits 

 the Rocky Mountains from their termination in latitude 68 to 40. 



The true Oxen (Bovida) are distinguished by having simply 

 rounded horns, which are not twisted in a spiral manner. 

 There are no lachrymal sinuses. Most of the oxen admit of 

 being more or less completely domesticated, and some of them 

 are amongst the most useful of animals, both as beasts of 

 burden and as supplying food. 



The parent stock of our numerous breeds of cattle is not known with 

 absolute certainty ; the nearest approach to British Wild Cattle being a 

 celebrated breed which is still preserved in one or two places. These 

 " Chillingham Cattle " are a fine wild breed, which at one time doubtless 

 existed over a considerable part of Britain. They are pure white, with a 

 black muzzle, the horns white, tipped with black. Though degenerate in 

 point of size, the Chillingham Cattle are probably the descendants of the 

 " mountain-bull" or " Urus," which existed in a wild state in Gaul at the 

 time of Coesar's invasion. The smaller breeds of European Cattle appear 

 to be descended from a now extinct species, the "British Short -horn" 

 (Bos longifrons). Another large Ox, which formerly existed in Britain, 

 and abounded over the whole of Europe, is the Aurochs or Lithuanian 

 Bison (Bos bison). The Aurochs is of very large size, considerably 

 exceeding the common Ox in bulk. It still occurs in the forests of the 

 Caucasus in a wild state, but it no longer occurs wild in Europe, if we 

 except a herd maintained by the Czar in one of the forests of Lithuania. 



* In the Merino Sheep, and in some other breeds also, the males only 

 are horned. 



