THE M O U F L O N, &c. 22; 



time by denying ourfelves the liberty of fabrica- 

 ting methodical diftributions, contemptible fy- 

 ftems, in which animals are clafled which the au- 

 thors never faw, and knew nothing more of them 

 than their names, w r hich are often ambiguous, 

 obfcure, and mifapplied. The falfe employment 

 of thefe names confounds ideas in a farrago of 

 words, and drowns truth in a torrent of error. 

 We are likewife convinced, after examining the 

 mouflonalive, and comparinghim with Gmelin's 

 defcription, that the argali is the fame animal. 

 We formerly remarked, that this animal was 

 found in Europe, and in pretty warm countries, 

 fuch as Greece *, the ifland of Cyprus t, Sardi- 

 Vol. VI. P nia, 



make it approach to the goats. But the crooked horns, and 

 the want -of a beard, exclude it from this clafs. Should we 

 not rather regard this animal as conftituting a particular clafs, 

 and recognife it as the mufivwn of the ancients ? In a word, 

 it has a ftong refemblance to Pliny's defcription of the mu- 

 fimon, and ft ill more to that given by the learned Gefner ;" 

 Relation d'un voyage par terre a Kamtfchatka^ par Gmeliti. This 

 curious relation is written by a man of good fenfe, and much 

 verfed in natural hiftory. 



* Thetragelaphus of Belon is unqueflionably our mouflon ; 

 and we perceive, from his remarks, that he fliw, defcribed, 

 and drew a figure of this animal in Greece, and that it is 

 found in the mountains between Macedonia and Servia. 



f In the Ifland of Cyprus, there are rams denominated by 

 the ancient Greeks, according to Strabo, viufmottes, and 

 called by the prefent Italians mufione. Inftead of wool, they 

 are covered with hair, like that of goats; or rather their (kin 

 and hair diiier little from thofe of the flag. Their horns re- 

 ferable thofe of rams ; but they are bent backward. They 

 ire as tall and as large as a middle lized flag. They run with 



great 



