2i6 THEMOUFLON, &c. 



the animal called moiijlon, which Teems to be the 

 primitive (lock of all the different varieties of 

 iheep. It lives in a ftate of nature, and fubfifts 

 and multiplies without the aid of man. It re- 

 fembles, more than any other wild animal, all 

 the domeftic kinds, and it is ftronger, fwifter, 

 and more vivacious than any of them. It has 

 the head, front, eyes, and face of the ram. It 

 likewife refembies him in the figure of the horns, 

 and in the whole habit of the body. In fine, 

 it produces with the domeftic fheep *, which a- 

 lone is fufficient to prove that it belongs to the 

 fame fpecies, and is the primitive flock from 

 which all the other varieties have originated. 

 The only difference between the moufion and 

 our fheep is, that the former is covered with 

 hair, inftead of wool. Now, we have already 

 feen, that, in domeftic fheep, wool is not an ef- 

 fential character, but only a production of tem- 

 perate .climates ; fmce, in warm countries, thefe 

 fame fheep lofe their wool, and are covered with 

 hair; and, in very cold regions, their wool is as 

 coarfe as hair. Hence it is by no means fur- 

 prifing, that the primitive wild fheep, which 

 inuft have been expofed to heat and cold, and 



mud 



* Eft et in Hifpania, fed maxime Corfica, non maxime ab- 

 fmile pccori (fcilicet ovili) genus muimonum, caprino villo, 

 cjuam pecoris vclleri propius : Quorum e genere et ovibus 

 natos prifci urnbros vocarunt ; Plin. Hiji. nat. lib. 8. cap. 49* 

 From this paiTage ve learn, that the mouflon has at all 

 times produced with the flieep. The ancients called all the 

 mongrels animals of thvs race, wubri, imbri t or ibri. 



