Chap. III. THEIR VARIATION. 95 



the long-tailed race has curious masses of fat on the back of the 

 head and beneath the jaws. 77 Mr. Hodgson in an admirable 

 paper 78 on the sheep of the Himalaya infers from the distribu- 

 tion of the several races, " that this caudal augmentation in 

 most of its phases is an instance of degeneracy in these pre- 

 eminently Alpine animals." The horns present an endless 

 diversity in character ; being, especially in the female sex, not 

 rarely absent, or, on the other hand, amounting to four or even 

 eight in number. The horns, when numerous, arise from a crest 

 on the frontal bone, which is elevated in a peculiar manner. It 

 is remarkable that multiplicity of horns " is generally accom- 

 panied by great length and coarseness of the fleece." 79 This 

 correlation, however, is not invariable ; for I am informed by 

 Mr. D. Forbes, that the Spanish sheep in Chile resemble, in 

 fleece and in all other characters, their parent merino-race, 

 except that instead of a pair they generally bear four horns. 

 The existence of a pair of mammae is a generic character in the 

 genus Ovis as well as in several allied forms ; nevertheless, as 

 Mr. Hodgson has remarked, " this character is not absolutely 

 constant even among the true and proper sheep: for I have 

 more than once met with Cagias (a sub-Himalayan domestic 

 race) possessed of four teats." 80 This case is the more remark- 

 able as, when any part or organ is present in reduced number 

 in comparison with the same part in allied groups, it usually is 

 subject to little variation. The presence of interdigital pits has 

 likewise been considered as a generic distinction in sheep ; but 

 Isidore Geoffroy 81 has shown that these pits or pouches are 

 absent in some breeds. 



In sheep there is a strong tendency for characters, which 

 have apparently been acquired under domestication, to become 

 attached either exclusively to the male sex, or to be more highly 

 developed in this than in the other sex. Thus in many breeds 

 the horns are deficient in the ewe, though this likewise occurs 

 occasionally with the female of the wild musmon. In the rams of 

 the Wallachian breed « the horns spring almost perpendicularly 



Z Y r att ? S , heep ' P - 12 °- 8 ° ' Joumal Asiat. Soc. of Bengal/ 



7» 'Journal of the Asiatic Soc. of vol xvi 1847 p 1015 

 Bengal,' vol. xvi pp. 1007, 1016. si.j^ ^ q/ , tom> m 



' 9 Youatt on Sheep, pp. 142-169. 435. 



