142 



MAMMALIA. 





Fig. 63.— Angnra Goat. 



Tlie Wild Go.it, or ^Tlgagrus (C. <egagrus, Gin.)— Appears to be the stock of all our domestic breeds, and is dis- 

 tinguished by its anteriorly sharp horn.s, very large in the male, short and sometimes wanting in the female ; 



which is also sometimes the case with the different 

 Ibexes. It inhabits the mountains of Persia in 

 troops, where it is known by the appellation pasinff, 

 and perhaps those of several other countries, even 

 the Alps. The oriental bezoar is a concretion found 

 in its intestines. 



Domestic Goats (C. li'ircits, Lin.), vary exceed- 

 ingly in size, colour, and the length and texture of 

 their coat ; also in the magnitude, and even the 

 number of their horns. Those of Angora and 

 Cappadocia have the longest and most silky hair. 

 The Thibet Goats are celebrated for the admirably 

 fine wool which grows among their hair, of which 

 the Cashmere stuffs are fabricated. There is a race 

 in Upper Egypt with short hair, convex chanfrin, 

 and projecting lower jaw, which probably is hybrid. 

 The Goats of Guinea, termed mamhrines ^ud juida, 

 arc very small, with horns inclining backwards. All of them are robust, capricious, wandering animals, that 

 betray their mountain origin by affecting dry and wild situations, where they feed on coarse herbage and the 

 shoots of bushes. They do much injury in forests. The kid only is eaten, but their milk is useful in several 

 diseases. The female can produce at seven months, and goes with young five months; she genei-ally yeans two 

 kids. The male engenders at a year old, and one suflices for more than a hundred females : in five or sLx years 

 he becomes aged. 



The Ibex (C. iSc.r, Lin.).— Immense horns, square in front, and marked with prominent transverse knots, ft 

 inhabits the mo.st elevated sumniifg of lofty mountain chains, throughout the whole ancient Continent. The 

 Caucasian Ibex (C. caucasica), has great triangular horns, obtuse but not'square in front, and notched as in the 

 preceding. Both species propagate with the Domestic Goat. The African Maned Ibex (C. <ethiopica) is another. 

 [These various animals with enormous horns are said to precipitate themselves fearlessly down precipices, always 

 falling on the horns, the elasticity of which secures them from injury. Those who have observed the force with 

 which domestic Rams butt at each other, mutually striking the forehead, will feel less surprise at the Ibexes 

 withstanding the shock of a fall.] 



The Sheep (Ovis, Lin.) — 

 Have horns directed backward, and then inclining spirally more or less forward ; their chanfrin is 

 generally convex, and they have no beard. They so little merit to be generically separated from the 

 Goats, that the two produce by intermixture a fertile offspring. As in the Goats, there are several 

 wild races or species, closely allied together. 



The Argali, or Wild Sheep of Siberia {Ov. amnion, Lin.), — the male of which has very large horns, triangular at 

 base, the angles rounded, flattened in front, and transversely striated ; those of the female are falchion-shaped and 

 compressed. Its hiiir, in summer, is short and greyish-fulvous ; in winter close, stiff, and reddish-grey, with sonie 

 white or whitish upon the muzzle, throat, and under-parts. There is always, as in the Stag, a yellowish space 

 around the tail, which latter is very short. This animal inhabits the mountains of all Asia, and attains the stature 

 of a Fallow Deer. [A smaller and distinct species inhabits the Hinimalaya mountains, which is termed the 

 Bnrrhal : there are specimens in the Museums of the Linnaean and Zoological Societies, London.] , 



The Corslcan Moufflon (Ov. miisimon. Pal.)— appears to differ only in its inferior size, and in the deficiency or 

 smallness of the horns in the female sex. It is said to be also found in Crete. There are some varieties wholly 

 or partially black, and others more or less white. 



It is probable that the American Moufflon {Ov. moniana) is a species of Argali, which may have crossed the sea 

 on the ice. Its horns are very stout, and more perfectly spiral than those of the Asiatic Argali. 



The African Moufflon {Ov. trageleplius, Cuv.) has soft reddish hair, with a long mane hanging under the neck, 

 and another at each ankle ; the tail short : it appears to be a distinct species, and inhabits the rocky regions of 

 liarbary ; M. Geoft'roy observed it in Egypt. 



From the Moufflon or Argali, it is believed that the innumerable breeds of our woolly domestic Sheep have been 

 derived ; animals which, the Dog alone excepted, have split into a greater number of varieties than any other. 

 [One remarkable fact, however, at variance with this supposition, and which we have never yet found to be 

 noticed, is, that all the wild races have exceedingly short tails, whereas the domestic breeds have generally, if 

 not always when unmutilated, tails that reach nearly to the ground. It is easier to conceive the loss of thin 

 apiiendage in certain domestic breeds, than its acquirement or extension, and the latter theory is borne out 

 by no analogy]. 



We have some in Europe with fine or common wool ; large and small ; with big or little horns, wanting in the 

 female, or in both sexes, &c. The most interesting varieties are the Spanish or Merino, which has a fine curly 

 Heece, with large spiral horns in the male, now beginning to be diifused through Europe, and the English, which 

 has long and fine wool. The most common variety in southern Russia has a very long tail. Those of India and 



