THE M O U F L O N, &c. 217 



muft have multipled without fhelter in the 

 woods and deferts, fhould not be covered with 

 wool, which it would foon lofe among the thick- 

 ets, and its nature would be changed by the 

 continual action of the air and temperance of 

 the feafons. Befides, when the he- goat copulates 

 with the domeftic ewe, the produce is a kind of 

 mouflon ; for the lamb is covered with hair, and 

 is not an unfertile mule, but a mongrel, which 

 rifes up toward the primitive fpecies, and feems 

 to indicate that the goat and our domeftic fheep 

 have fomething common in their origin : And, 

 as we know from experience, that the he-goat 

 eafily produces with the ewe, but that the ram 

 is incapable of impregnating the fhe-goat, it is 

 evident, that, among thefe animals, while in a 

 domeftic ftate, the goat is the predominant fpe- 

 cies. Thus, our fheep is a fpecies much more 

 degenerated than that of the goat ; and it is ex- 

 tremely probable, that, if the fhe-goat were fer- 

 ved with a mouflon, inftead of a domeftic ram, 

 fhe would produce kids which would approach 

 to the fpecies of the goat, as the lambs produced 

 by the he- goat and ewe rife toward the original 

 fpecies of the ram. 



I am aware of objections to this doctrine from 

 thofe fyftematic naturalifts, who found all their 

 knowledge of natural hiftory upon fome particular 

 characters ; and, therefore, fhall endeavour to pre- 

 vent them. The firft character, they will fay, of 

 the ram, is to carry wool, and the firft character of 



the 



