I30 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



a uniform breed which occurred all over the country, 

 and likewise extended into Sicily, Sardinia, and 

 Corsica, proceeds to observe that during ancient 

 Roman times they were so altered by crossing 

 with imported foreign breeds, that they are pre- 

 served in the pure condition only in Sardinia and 

 perhaps Corsica. 



The presumably pure Italian breed, as repre- 

 sented in Sardinia, is, he continues, a middle-sized 

 sheep, resembling in this respect the ordinary sheep 

 of Germany, from which it differs little in appear- 

 ance. The chief difference consists in the longer 

 wool, and a tendency among the rams to develop 

 two or three extra horns. On the mainland the 

 original breed appears to have been somewhat larger, 

 island forms being generally inferior in point of size 

 to their continental representatives. According to 

 a later writer. Dr. Simroth,^ many of the Sardinian 

 sheep are black, while others are pied. In the 

 southern half of the island white sheep are more 

 prevalent, the black and pied type being abundant 

 only in the northern districts. In some the neck, 

 head, and limbs are alone black. The rams carry 

 stout, brown, mouflon-like horns, with the trans- 

 verse wrinkles well developed, which form half of 

 one complete turn of a spiral. 



In the Natural History branch of the British 

 Museum are preserved two skulls of tame Corsican 



* Bemerkungen iiber die Tierwelt Sardiniens. 



