FAT-RUMPED SHEEP 203 



merely a small protuberance at the base of the 

 cleft between the two fatty cushions. The latter 

 are relatively small and elongated, hairy above, 

 but bare in their larger lower halves. A moderately 

 long, ragged fleece, composed of soft wavy wool 

 mingled with hair, forms an efficient protection 

 against the winter blasts of the steppes ; but on the 

 neck, the lower half of the chest, and the upper 

 and hind part of the fatty cushions, the hair be- 

 comes so much more abundant than the wool, that 

 the fleece may be described as hairy. The colour 

 presents the usual gradations from yellowish white 

 to brown or black ; parti-coloured individuals being 

 by no means uncommon. The horns are of the 

 normal yellowish hue. 



Pallas regarded these sheep as a pure-bred local 

 phase of the fat-rumped type, attributing the small 

 development of the fat-cushions on the rump to the 

 moist mountain-pastures of the Baikal and Krasno- 

 yarsk districts, which carry but few saline plants, 

 and from which salt-licks are absent. The finer 

 character of the wool distinguishing this from the 

 allied breeds is likewise attributed to the same cause. 



An altogether different type of fat-rumped sheep 

 is well exemplified by the breeds known as the 

 Somali (pi. xiv. fig. i), the Hedjaz or Mecca 

 (pi. xiv. fig. 2), the Nubian, and the Persian, For 

 this remarkable type of sheep Dr. Fitzinger * pro 

 ' op. cit., p. 182. 



