520 The wild Sheep of Afghanistan. 



increases with age. The tuft at the end of the tail in the 

 Ruffled Mouflon, is entirely wanting in the Bearded Sheep ; 

 the length of this appendage is also different, it being two 

 inches shorter in the latter species. 



The horns in both are wrinkled most strongly towards 

 the base, nearly smooth at the extremity, and ending in the 

 Bearded Sheep, in a flat obtuse point, which is slightly turn- 

 ed outwards, or rather forwards. In old specimens in both 

 species, they are closely approximated at the base, and curl 

 strongly round in a circular direction. 



If it be thought necessary to trace the derivation of our 

 domestic breeds from the wild stock of each country, this 

 species is the only one from which the flocks of Afghanistan 

 could have descended, for it is the only wild species known 

 to the people. 



It so happens, however, that the wild breed has a tail of 

 only four inches in length, which is narrow, and tapering; 

 whereas the domestic breed is a variety of the well-known 

 " Ovis steatopyga" whose tails often attain to such a size as 

 to impede the animal's motions, and are so broad as to cover 

 the whole of the rump as far down as the houghs ; and in- 

 deed it is said, that in some parts of the country, they ac- 

 tually reach the ground, and are supported on wheeled trucks 

 to enable the animal to move about. 



It is evident then from this characteristic alone, that the 

 Bearded Sheep has not in any way contributed to form the 

 domestic stock of the Afghans ; for if Pallas be right in 

 attributing the enlargements of the tail to the peculiarities, 

 of pasture, why has it not had the same effects upon the 

 wild, as upon the domestic race ? Pasture, however much it 

 might influence the secretion of fat, could never lengthen 

 an animal's tail by several vertebra, which if the domestic 

 breed has sprung from the wild one, it must have done in 

 the present instance. 



There are other marked distinctions, however, which will 



