14 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



known as the Iluminautia, for the reason that they are all 

 ruminating animals, having four stomachs, cloven hoofs, anil 

 incisors only on the lower jaw, the teeth in the upper jaw 

 being wanting, and replaced by a hard, tough pad against 

 which the lower teeth impinge when the animal is pasturing, 

 thus severing the herbage. 



Its family is known as Ovis, and is peculiar on account 

 of having no tear pits, but instead a number of small fol- 

 licles or bags from which is secreted an oily matter by 

 which the movements of the eye in its socket and also of the 

 eyelids are facilitated. 



The organs of nutrition are the most important pad: 

 of the structure of this animal. They consist first of: 



The mouth and teeth. The mouth extends from the lips 

 to the gullet, which is the entrance to the alimentary canal. 

 The sheep, like the ox, has a set of deciduous or milk teeth, 

 which in course of time are shed and replaced by a new 

 and permanent set. It has no canine teeth, otherwise known 

 as dog teeth. There is a considerable space of the jaw that 

 is destitute of teeth, that is, between the front or incisor 

 teeth and the molars or grinders. There are thirty-two teeth 

 in all, the same number as in the ox tribe. In the lower jaw- 

 there are eight incisors or cutting teeth. It is curious that 

 this is the precise number existing in mankind, but the 

 whole number is placed on the lower jaw of the sheep, and 

 in man they are divided between the upper and lower jaws. 

 The sheep has twenty-four grinders or back teeth, w r hich is 

 four more than mankind possess; but the whole number of 

 teeth in the sheep is the same as in man. 



The number and condition of the sheep's teeth are an 

 easy indication of its age. There are twenty deciduous 

 teeth, the first of which appear before or soon after birth. 

 These consist of the two central incisors, and three of the 

 molars or double teeth. The whole of the incisors appear at 

 the age of two or three weeks. The first molars appear be- 

 fore or soon after birth, three on each side. The last two 

 incisors, one on each side, appear at six to nine months 

 after birth. This completes the set of front teeth. The com- 

 plete set of molars do not appear until the sheep is in its 

 fifth year, when the last one appears. The following table 

 will be a guide to the process of dentition. 



