34 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



was preceded by the German naturalist Nathusius, 

 who wrote that the skeleton and soft parts of the 

 chabin are identical with those of the sheep, and 

 quite unlike those of the goat. The figure of the 

 skull and horns of a chabin given by him and repro- 

 duced by Messrs. Neveu-Lemaire and Grandidier 

 is, indeed, essentially that of a sheep. 



" A few years later a very similar opinion was 

 expressed by another French writer, who wrote as 

 follows in the Coinptes Rendus de V Acaddmie des 

 Sciences, Paris (vol. cxxiii. p. 322, 1896): 'From 

 an anatomical point of view the chabins are very 

 long-woolled sheep. They breed freely with sheep, 

 both male and female, the progeny being always 

 lambs. If the ewes are left with a he-goat there is 

 a rapprochement, but without results. The hybrid 

 origin of the chabins is, then, a fable, like that of 

 the so-called "leporides;" they form a breed of sheep, 

 just as the " leporides " form a breed of rabbits, and 

 nothing more.' 



" This very definite opinion, in view of what has 

 been recorded with regard to the crossing of sheep 

 and goats in Europe, is, however, not fully accepted 

 by Messrs. Neveu-Lemaire and Grandidier, who 

 sum up their article as follows : 'In conclusion, 

 without desiring to deny the possibility of a union 

 between the two species, sheep and goats, we are of 

 opinion that the modern chabins of Chile are not 

 exclusively the fertile products of a first cross be- 



