Feb. 17, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEVVAS. 



15s 



AFRICAN SHEEP IN THE BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL 



GARDENS. 

 Their essential characteristic is that they are not 

 covered with wool like their European relatives, 

 but have stiff, coarse hair. There is a diversity in their 

 size and shape, which alters according to the food 

 and climate of the different places in which they are 

 raised. 



Sometimes the profile of the forehead is straight, but 

 frequently it is more or less curved. The ears differ in 

 length and breadth, in some animals standing out, and 

 hanging down in others, while the body is more or less 

 curved on the sides. The length and strength of the legs 



neck. The large coloured spots which are distributed 

 about the body are essentially black and characteristic. 

 The Cameroon sheep are only useful as food, but they 

 are considered of great importance among the black 

 population, on account of their easy fattening qualities — 

 Illustrirte Zeitung. 



The Extinction of the Bison. — The report of the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington 

 for the past year refers to the extraordinary difficulty 

 with which specimens of the bison, or American buffalo, 

 were obtained for the museum. In 1886 it was noticed 

 that the representatives of the species in the museum 

 were very defective, and it was decided to secure at once 

 at all hazards, before the animal was wholly exterminated, 

 a complete series of fresh skins and skeletons. The 

 chief taxidermist was directed to set to work at once, but 



African Sheep. 



and tail are also varied, the latter in some species showing 

 a tendencj' toward clumsiness in size. 



The colour of these sheep is always black and white, 

 the white forming the groundwork for the black round 

 spots, which are found upon the nose, the eyes, ears, and 

 just above the hoofs. The shape of the specimen shown in 

 our illustration is rather small and graceful, the profile 

 is straight, the finely-shaped ears stand out horizontally 

 from the head, the line of the back is even, and the tail 

 is a medium length. The body is curved, the limbs are 

 slender, very similar to those of the deer. 



The hair is short and even, except of the buck, and 

 even then it grows long only on the under side of the 



his inquiries were met by the assurance that the wild 

 buffalo were all gone except in Yellowstone Park. 

 Eventually reports were received that a few remained in 

 Montana and a few in Texas. It was decided not to wait 

 for the ordinary hunting season, but to start at once. 

 About 75 miles north-west of Miles City, Montana, a 

 herd of 50 to 60 buffalo was discovered. The residents 

 along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers were quite 

 ignorant of the existence of the herd in these wild and 

 uninhabited regions and it had found safe shelter there 

 ever since the destruction of the great northern herd in 

 1881-83, and was breeding in fancied security. But the 

 settlement of the country by ranchmen which had just 



