ZOOLOGICAL POSITION AND STRUCTURE 25 



placed by wool, except on the face, ears, and legs, 

 where the hair is generally retained, although in 

 some breeds, such as the merino and the Shrop- 

 shire, wool is developed on the face and legs. 



It has been very generally stated that wool 

 results from an ultra-development of the under- 

 fur, accompanied by disappearance of the hair. 

 This, however, was long ago disputed by Pro- 

 fessor Thomas Bell, who observed ^ that " the 

 longer hairs of the mouflon are in their structure 

 as definitely wool as that of the [domesticated] 

 sheep : they are coarse and stiff, it is true, and 

 nearly straight ; but they possess the essential char- 

 acter of wool, in the imbricated scaly surface, which 

 gives to wool that remarkable felting property upon 

 which its peculiar utility, in many cases, depends. 

 It is also somewhat waved ; and it requires no 

 considerable change to convert such a filament as 

 this into one of fine curly wool. On the contrary, 

 the short soft pelt which lies at the root of this 

 is nothing more than extremely fine hair, uniform 

 and smooth over its whole surface, and not as- 

 suming the slightest appearance of the woolly 

 texture. I have examined the two kinds of hair 

 of the mouflon from various parts of the animal, 

 and have found no essential variation." 



At a later date Sir Richard Owen" wrote, in 



1 British Quadrupeds, ist ed., p. 438, London, 1837. 

 * Anatomy of Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 618, London, 1868. 



