ZOOLOGICAL POSITION AND STRUCTURE 39 



" has been recorded in the Report of the Juries 

 for the Great Exhibition (1851), namely the pro- 

 duction of a merino ram-lamb on the Mauchamp 

 farm, in 1828, which was remarkable for its long, 

 smooth, straight, and silky wool. By the year 

 1833 M. Graux had raised lambs enough to 

 serve his whole flock, and after a few more years 

 he was able to sell stock of his new breed. So 

 peculiar and valuable is the wool that it sells 25 

 per cent, above the best merino-wool ; even the 

 fleeces of half-bred animals are valuable, and are 

 known in France as the Mauchamp merino. It is 

 interesting, as showing how generally any marked 

 deviation of structure is accompanied by other 

 deviations, that the first ram and his immediate 

 offspring were of small size, with large heads, long 

 necks, narrow chests, and long flanks ; but these 

 blemishes were removed by judicious crosses and 

 selection. The long smooth wool was also cor- 

 related with smooth horns ; and as horns and hair 

 are homologous structures, we can understand the 

 meaning of this correlation." 



So far as I can ascertain, all the domesticated 

 breeds of sheep will cross freely with one another 

 and produce fertile progeny ; and it is probable 

 that the same holds good with most, if not all, of 

 the wild species. 



The period of gestation in European domesti- 

 cated breeds varies from 144 days in Southdowns 



