222 THE MOUFLO N, &<* 



fpecies ; and all the fheep, however numerous 

 their varieties, conftitute only another fpecies. 



I am obliged, by the importance of the fub- 

 jec~t, to repeat, that Nature is not to be judged 

 of by particular minute chara&ers, and that by 

 thefe the differences of fpecies are not to be .de- 

 termined ; that methodical diftributions, inftead 

 of throwing light on the hiftory of animals, ren- 

 der it ftill more obfcure, by a fruitlefs multipli- 

 cation of denominations, and of fpecies; by form- 

 ing arbitrary genera, which Nature never knew ; 

 by confounding real beings with creatures of 

 imagination ; by giving falfe ideas of the effential 

 characteristics of fpecies ; and by mixing or fe- 

 parating them in an arbitrary manner, without 

 fkill, and often without having examined or even 

 feen the individuals. It is for this reafon that 

 our nomenclators perpetually deceive themfelves 

 and publifTi nearly as many errors as lines. Of 

 this we have already given fo many examples, 

 that nothing but the blindeft and moft obftinate 

 prejudice can poffibly refift the evidence they af- 

 ford. On this fubjecT: M. Gmelin talks very 

 fenfibiy, when treating of the animal under con- 

 federation *, 



We 



* « The argati,' or Jlepnie-barani, which occupy,' fays he, 

 ' the fouthern mountains of Siberia, from the river Irtis, as 

 far as Kamtfchatka, are extremely vivacious animals ; and 

 this vivacity feems to exclude them from the clafs of fheep, 

 and to rank them with that of the flags. I fhall here give a 

 ihort description of them, from which it will appear, that 



neii 



