ex INTRODUCTION. 



external ears should be thin, the eyes prominent and clear, 

 the neck should be short and well covered with muscles, 

 which should expand quickly from the points of attachment 

 at the cranium and jaws towards the breast and shoulder. 

 A thinness of the neck, although not inconsistent with the 

 property of fattening, usually indicates a deficiency of muscle 

 on the breast and shoulder, and, generally, a want of vigour 

 in the animal. 



The neck should be slightly arched ; but in certain races 

 it is nearly level with the back. From the neck to the pel- 

 vis the upper line of the back should be straight, and nearly 

 so from the loins to the bending downward of the tail. The 

 back should be of medium length, and the distance between 

 the last rib and the pelvis relatively short. Breeders, in- 

 deed, desire a long sheep ; but the character of length, de- 

 rived from extension of the dorsal and lumbar parts, does 

 not indicate vigour or disposition to fatten, but merely a 

 larger extent of muscular substance. But the haunch should 

 always be long from the haunch -bones backward, this con- 

 formation never indicating the weakness which may result 

 from a too great extension in length' of the back and loins. 



The upper line of the haunch, it has been said, should be 

 long and straight from the haunch-bones backward. When 

 it droops considerably, as in the less cultivated breeds, the 

 conformation is regarded as defective. Further, the whole 

 haunch or quarter should be broad and deep, corresponding 

 to the depth of trunk, and the muscles should be largely de- 

 veloped in the inside of the tibia, forming what is popularly 

 called the twist. 



The ribs should be very curved, proceeding at first hori- 

 zontally from the spine, from which conformation it will re- 

 sult that the back will be broad as well as straight. In cer- 

 tain highly cultivated breeds, the horizontal expansion of the 

 ribs is so great that often it seems to the eye as if the body 

 were more broad than deep. The transverse processes of 

 the lumbar region should, in an especial degree, be largo, 



