380 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 925 



severely. We killed or sold all sheep with 

 extra nipples in an embryonic or undeveloped 

 form, and limited ourselves to ewes with four 

 functional nipples alone. 



After this point had been reached there were 

 very few cases of reversion to the two-nippled 

 type. 



The flock speedily increased in numbers, and 

 when, in process of time, it became largely 

 composed of four-nippled sheep whose parents 

 had also been four-nippled, the cases of rever- 

 sion practically ceased and the breed was es- 

 tablished. 



At first it appeared that the four-nippled 

 ewes were less fertile than ordinary sheep, for 

 they had a smaller proportion of twins; but 

 this turned out to be due to the fact that the 

 process of selection had necessarily resulted at 

 first in a flock composed mainly of young ewes, 

 and young sheep rarely have twins. After the 

 four-nippled ewes had grown to full maturity 

 they were found to be as fertile in this respect 

 as ordinary sheep, if not more so. 



Most of the twins that were born on Beinn 

 Breagh were small at birth. In the autumn, 

 however, they were found, upon the average, to 

 be fully equal in size and weight to the single 

 lambs of the flock, thus demonstrating the 

 important point that a breed of sheep had been 

 produced which could successfully rear twins. 



During the process of the establishment of 

 the four-nippled breed the number of two- 

 nippled and three-nippled lambs born in the 

 flock gradually decreased; and five-nippled 

 lambs took their place in increasing numbers. 

 Then six-nippled lambs were produced, fol- 

 lowed by the occasional appearance of seven- 

 nippled and even eight-nippled lambs, indi- 

 cating the possibility of producing breeds of 

 sheep with a greater number of nipples than 

 four, if desired. 



Since the year 1890, the nipples of several 

 thousand sheep on the island of Cape Breton 

 have been examined, with the discovery that 

 three-nippled, four-nippled and even five-nip- 

 pled sheep are by no means uncommon. Six- 

 nippled sheep, on the other hand, are extremely 

 rare, only two having been discovered in 

 twenty-two years which were not connected 



with our flock. We have never come across a 

 seven-nippled sheep that was not descended 

 from Beinn Bhreagh stock; and eight-nippled 

 sheep seem to be quite unknown at present 

 outside of Beinn Bhreagh. 



The fact that four-nippled sheep, like black 

 sheep, are to be found in every flock of con- 

 siderable size, led me to push the selection in 

 the Beinn Bhreagh flock towards the forma- 

 tion of a six-nippled variety, so as to secure a 

 breed that could not be easily duplicated else- 

 where. 



Origin of the Six-nippled Variety of Sheep. 

 (Ewe No. 76.) — As early as 1891 we discov- 

 ered in the flock of a farmer a six-nippled ewe, 

 with the four extra nipples very poorly de- 

 veloped. We purchased her and added her to 

 our flock as " No. 76," as she was a yearling 

 at the time. 



She remained on Beinn Bhreagh for sev- 

 eral years and gave us nine lambs in all be- 

 fore she died. She was mated with our best 

 four-nippled rams, but never gave us a six- 

 nippled lamb. The first six-nippled lamb 

 born on Beinn Bhreagh, however (No. 610), 

 was her direct descendant (granddaughter) 

 without any admixture of other six-nippled 

 blood; and the ewe. No. 610, gave lis a six- 

 nippled lamb when she was only a year old 

 herself. 



No. 76 was a white ewe, and in 1893 she was 

 mated with a white ram, but the lamb she 

 produced in 1894 was black. He turned out to 

 be a ram with four nipples (No. 417), and he 

 is largely responsible for the black blood that 

 afterwards appeared in the Beinn Bhreagh 

 flock. 



(Eive No. 256.) — In the course of that same 

 year (1894) we heard of another six-nippled 

 ewe which had been discovered in the flock of 

 a farmer near North River, St. Ann's ; but 

 she was so wild that the people on the farm 

 were unable to catch her for us. 



As we desired to secure her before the 

 breeding season arrived, we sent a man to the 

 farm two or three times to assist in her cap- 

 ture, but all without success. She was as wild 

 as a deer and leapt the fences and escaped to 

 the woods. 



