178 MAMMALIA. 
the base triangular, angles rounded, flattened in front, and striated 
transversely; those of the female are compressed and falciform. In 
summer the hair is short, and of a fawn-coloured grey; in winter it 
is thick, rigid, and of a reddish-grey, with some white about the 
muzzle, throat, and under the belly. There is always, as in the stag, 
a yellow space about the tail, which is very short. ‘This animal in- 
habits the mountains of all Asia, and attains to the size of the fallow 
deer. . 
Ov. musimon, Pall.; Mufione of Sardinia; Mujffoli de Corse; 
Buff. XI. pl. xxix; Schreb, CCLXXXVIII. A. (The Mouflon or 
Mufion of Sardinia). Appears to differ from it only in its inferior 
size, and in the deficiency or smallness of the horns in the female. 
It is said to be also found in Crete. There are some varieties to- 
tally or partially black, and others more or less white. It is pro- 
bable that the 
Ov. montana, Geoff., Ann. Mus. II. pl. lx; Sclir. CCXCIV. D. 
(The Mouflon of America) is a species of Argali, which may have 
crossed the sea on the ice. Its horns are very stout, and are more 
perfectly spiral than those of the common species.* 
Ov. tragelaphus, Cuv.; Penn. XII; Shaw, pl. ccii, 2; Schr. 
CCLXXXVIITI. B. (The Mouflon of Africa). . Soft and reddish 
hair, with a long mane hanging under the neck and another at each 
ankle; the tail is short; it appears to be a distinct species. It in- 
habits the rocky districts of all Barbary; and M. Geoffroy has ob- 
served it in Egypt. 
It is from the Moufion or the Argali that we are supposed to de- 
rive the innumerable races of our woolly animals, which, next to the 
dog, are most subject to vary. We have some of them in Europe 
with common and fine wool; large and small; with large or little 
horns, wanting in the females, or in both sexes, &c. &c. The most 
interesting varieties are those of Spain(a@), which have a fine curly 
fleece, with large spiral horns on the male, now beginning to be dif- 
fused throughout Europe, and that of England, whose wool is fine 
and long. 
The most common variety in southern Russia has a very long tail. 
y 
* This is identical with the Ovis ammon, L. 
i" (a) The principal of these is the Merino breed, which, up to 1786, were pecu- 
liar to Spain. In that year a flock was brought into France, and was placed on the 
national farm of Rambouillet, where they still remain. George the Third adopted 
the plan, after the example of France, of importing Merino sheep, and presenting 
them to private agrtculturists. In 1792, Lord Auckland, our ambassador at Spain, 
obtained, by order of his Majesty, forty of the best Spanish sheep, in exchange for 
eight English coach horses; they were placed in Oatlands, and superintended by Sir 
Joseph Banks. But the results of this and similar experiments, so far as England is 
concerned, must be regarded as failures: in this country the wool was always coarser 
on the Merino than the article which came from Spain, whereas, the wool of the 
Merino imported into Germany was the finest and best of all. The wool from our 
colonies of New South Wales bids fair to be the most superior that has hitherto been 
employed in England.—Ene. Ep. 
