220 THE MOUFLON, &c e 



the thicknefs or length of the tail, anfwer this 

 purpofe ; iince it may be confidered as an arti- 

 ficial member, which, by great care and abundance 

 of good nourifhment, may be enlarged at plea- 

 fure. Befides, among our domeftic races, as in 

 certain Britifh fheep, there are fome which have 

 tails longer than the common kind. Our mo- 

 dern naturalifts, however, trufting folely to the 

 differences in the horns, the wool, and the large- 

 nefs of the tail, have made feven or eight di- 

 ftinct fpecies out of the fheep-kind The whole 

 of thefe we have reduced to one. And this re- 

 duction feerns to be ib well founded, that the:*?' 

 is little profpect of its being overturned by fu- 

 ture obfervations. 



In compoling the hiftory of wild animals, wc 

 found it convenient to examine them one by one, 

 without any regard to genus, but, in the do- 

 meftic animals, on the contrary, it was necelTa- 

 ry not only to adopt, but to increafe the number 

 of genera ; becaule in Nature there exift only 

 individuals, and fucceiiions of individuals, that 

 is, fpecies. Men have had no influence on inde- 

 pendent animals ; but they have greatly altered 

 "and modified the domeilic kinds. We have, 

 therefore, eftablifhed phyfical and real genera, 



very 



goat, but with the fhepp. Brifibn has not only placed the 

 moufion and (Irepficheros, which he calls bircus Ia?iiger, among 

 the goats, but he has made lour diftinct fpecies of domeilic 

 fheep covered with wool, befide the domeilic fheep of warm 

 countries covered with hair, and the broad and long tailed 

 fheep. All thefe feven we have reduced to a fmgle fpecies. 



