368 JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



and secretes a clear semi-fluid substance. E. I. Pocock 

 states ^ that secretion with Asiatic wild sheep is pleasant 

 of scent, like taffy, slightly infused with acetic acid. 

 Lydekker assumes * that the secretion of these foot glands, 

 by scenting the ground or herbage over which the sheep 

 have passed, aids, doubtless, in enabling the members of a 

 scattered flock to ascertain the whereabouts of their fellows. 

 The unpleasant smell of domesticated sheep, so different 

 from the sweet aroma of cattle and many kinds of antelopes, 

 may be in part due to the secretion of these glands. 



' Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1910, p. 859. 

 » The Sheep and Its Cousins, 1912, p. 19. 



