12 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



domesticated sheep and some of their wild 

 relatives : — 



Subkingdom VERTEBRATA— Vertebrates, or Back-boned 



Animals. 

 Class Mammalia — Mammals. 



Order Ungulata — Hoofed Mammals, or Ungulates. 

 Suborder Artiodactyla — Even-toed Ungulates. 

 Section Pecora — Typical Ruminants. 



Family Bovid^ — Hollow-horned Ruminants. 

 Subfamily Caprin^e — Sheep and Goats. 

 Genus Ovis — Sheep. 



Species i. — Ovis aries, the Domesticated 



Sheep. 

 Species 2. — Ovis musimon, the Moufion, or 



European Wild Sheep. 

 Species 3. — Ovis orientalis, the Red Sheep, 

 or Wild Sheep of South- 

 eastern Asia. 

 &c., &c. 



Having now cleared the ground, attention may 

 be directed to the features by which sheep are dis- 

 tinguished from oxen, or cattle, the typical repre- 

 sentatives of the family Bovidce. In the first place, 

 sheep as a whole are smaller animals than oxen, 

 although the largest sheep, such as the Central 

 Asian argali, is considerably bigger than the anoa 

 or dwarf buffalo of Celebes, the smallest member of 

 the ox group. Then, again, they usually carry 

 their heads higher, and considerably elevated 

 above the line of the back. In place, too, of the 

 broad, naked, moist, undivided muzzle of the oxen, 

 sheep have a vertically cleft, narrow snout com- 



