EXTERNAL FORM. evil 



The skin of the ox, it has been said, should be soft to the 

 touch, but not thin ; it should likewise be unctuous, and well 

 covered with soft hair. By refinement in breeding, and espe- 

 cially by breeding from animals near of blood, the hair be- 

 comes short and scanty ; but when this is so, we are reminded 

 that we are deviating from the natural characters in a point 

 connected with hardiness of constitution. The colour of the 

 hair depends upon causes which we have not yet been able 

 to trace. In this country, certain races tend to the black 

 colour, while others are never found but of the lighter. The 

 Short-Horned and Hereford breeds are never found but red 

 or white, while the Long-horned, like the cattle of the moun- 

 tains, are often black. It does not appear that the colour of 

 the hair is of very great moment with regard to the hardi- 

 ness of the animal, though, in cases of high breeding, as in 

 the Short-horned variety, the white colour seems to be a con- 

 sequence of constitutional deviation from the natural state. 

 The muzzle, in certain breeds, is light or flesh-coloured ; and in 

 others black ; and this character frequently affords an indica- 

 tion of the purity of an animal, or, in other words, its free- 

 dom from intermixture of blood with other races. 



The Sheep differs greatly from the Ox in sfze and form ; 

 but there are certain characters common to both, which in- 

 dicate their adaptation to the same uses. In the Sheep, the 

 cranium is relatively larger than in the Ox, the pieces are 

 more closely united, and the frontal bones forming the fore- 

 head comparatively more thick, as if to fit the animal for that 

 method of attack which is natural to him ; but generally the 

 bones of the sheep are of a greatly less dense consistence 

 than those of the ox. The Sheep has usually horns, which 

 are rough, angular, and tending to the spiral, but under the 

 effects of domestication, the horns frequently disappear in 

 one or both sexes ; and the largest and most highly culti- 

 vated races of this country are destitute of horns. The or- 

 bits of the sheep are large, and the eyes correspond in size 

 and prominence with this conformation. 



The Sheep, like the Ox, is furnished with a cartilaginous 



