1846.] Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. 155 



sheep known to us could have furnished the original stock, for all of 

 them possess that character ; — the assertion, however, that the genus 

 Ovis does not possess the lachrymal sinus is erroneous, for both the 

 broad-tails and every other domestic variety that I have seen, decidedly 

 possess it ; it varies in size in different breeds, but I will venture to 

 assert that it will always be present. Still, notwithstanding the occur- 

 rence of a sinus both in the musmon and domestic sheep, the latter 

 must nevertheless be a distinct species, because it possesses a character 

 common to all sheep, but which in the musmon is wanting, namely, the 

 interdigital opening sac. 



Having given proof therefore that our domestic flocks have not been 

 derived from the musmon, I shall now endeavour to establish my third 

 position, by proving that that the Ovis steatopyga is a remnant of the ori- 

 ginal breed confided to man in the infancy of the world. I have already 

 said, that I am inclined to think the Ovis steatopyga, with its varieties, 

 as altogether distinct from the races now living in a state of freedom, 

 and in this opinion I shall now attempt to trace back its origin from 

 the earliest to the present time, leaving it to others to form their own 

 conclusions from the facts here brought to their notice. 



The earliest mention made of man's possessing flocks is in the 4th 

 Chapter of the Book of Genesis, where, at the 4th verse we are informed, 

 that Abel "brought of the firstlings of his flock," as an offering to the 

 Lord. 



Since then, at this early period, a sufficient number of animals were 

 domesticated to enable man to offer up the daily sacrifices which it 

 appears was then the custom, and since, moreover, we know that the 

 animals were created especially for man's use and comfort, it is evident 

 that some of the more useful races must have been placed from begin- 

 ning under his controul as domestic stock, for it is clearly impossible 

 that he could, by any exertions of his own, have captured and subdued 

 a sufficient number of the wild mountain breeds, at the period alluded 

 to, to enable him to offer up such sacrifices. 



In this case, such cattle would necessarily have descended from gene- 

 ration to generation, even to the period when God commanded Noah to 

 build the Ark, and they consequently formed part of the stock preserved 

 alive with him, and became the foundation of his domestic flocks after 

 the flood, and were diffused again with his descendants from the coun- 



