T H E M O U F L O N, &c. 219 



wool of our wedders. This character, there- 

 fore, is not eflential, but purely accidental, and 

 even equivocal ; for it may equally belong to 

 thefe two fpecies, or be wanting altogether, ac- 

 cording to the difference of the climates. That 

 of the horns appears to be ftill lefs certain ; for 

 they vary in number, fize, figure, and direction. 

 In our domeftic fheep, the rams have generally 

 horns, and the ewes have none. I have feea 

 fheep not only with two, but with four horns. 

 Thole of the North and of Iceland have fometimes 

 eight. In warm countries, the rams have only 

 two fhort horns, and often want them, like the 

 ewes. In fome, the horns are fmooth and round ; 

 in others, they are flat and chamfered. The 

 points, inftead of being bended backward, are 

 fometimes turned outward, forward, &c. This 

 character, therefore, is not more conftant than 

 the former ; and, confequently, it is not fuffietent 

 to coniVitute different fpecies *, Neither can 



the 



* Linnaeus, with great propriety, inftead of fix fpecies, 

 has made fix varieties only of domeftic iheep. i. Ovis ruflica 

 cor nut a. 2. Anglic a tmctica, cauda Jcrotoque ad genua pendulis. 

 3. Hifpanlca cornuta,fpira extrorfeun tratla. 4. Polyarata e Goth? 

 landia. 5. Africana pro lana pilis brevibus hirta. 6. Laticauda. 

 platyura Arabica; Linn.Jyfi.nat.p.Q']. All thefe fneep are only 

 varieties, to which this author ihould have added the adimain- 

 or Guiney fheep, and the jlrepfuheros of Crete, inftead of 

 making them two different fpecies. In the fame manner, if 

 he had feen the mouflon, and had known that it produced 

 with the fheep, or had only confulted the paflage of Pliny con- 

 cerning the mouflon, he would never have ranked it with the 



goat, 



