1 02 SHEEP : Chap. III. 



of the conditions of life to which, they have been exposed than 

 almost any other domestic animal. According to Pallas, and 

 more recently according to Errnan, the fat-tailed Kirghisian 

 sheep, when "bred for a few generations in Russia, degenerate, 

 and the mass of fat dwindles away, " the scanty and bitter 

 herbage of the steppes seems so essential to their develop- 

 ment." Pallas makes an analogous statement with respect 

 to one of the Crimean breeds. Burnes states that the 

 Karakool breed, which produces a fine, curled, black, and 

 valuable fleece, when removed from its own canton near 

 Bokhara to Persia or to other quarters, loses its peculiar 

 fleece. 91 In all such cases, however, it may be that a change 

 of any kind in the conditions of life causes variability and 

 consequent loss of character, and not that certain conditions 

 are necessary for the development of certain characters. 



Great heat, however, seems to act directly on the fleece : 

 several accounts have been published of the change which 

 sheep imported from Europe undergo in the West Indies. 

 Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs me that, after the third 

 generation, the wool disappears from the whole body, except 

 over the loins ; and the animal then appears like a goat with 

 a dirty door mat on its back. A similar change is said to 

 take place on the west coast of Africa. 92 On the other hand, 

 many wool-bearing sheep live on the hot plains of India. 

 Eoulin asserts that in the lower and heated valleys of the 

 Cordillera, if the lambs are sheared as soon as the wool has 

 grown to a certain thickness, all goes on afterwards as usual ; 

 but if not sheared, the wool detaches itself in flakes, and 

 short shining hair like that on a goat is produced ever 

 afterwards. This curious result seems merely to be an ex- 

 aggerated tendency natural to the Merino breed, for as a 



91 Erraan's ' Travels in Siberia ' the Sierra Leone Company, as quoted 



(Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 228. For Pallas in White's ' Gradation of Man,' p. 95. 



on the fat-tailed sheep, I quote from With respect to the change which 



Anderson's account of the ' Sheep of sheep undergo in the West Indies, s^e 



Russia,' 1794, p. 34. With respect also Dr. Davy, in • Edin. New. Phil, 



to the Crimean sheep, tee Pallas' Journal,' Jan. 1852. For the state- 



1 Travels ' (tng. trans.), vol. ii. p. 454. ment made by Roulin, see ' Mem. dp 



For the Karakool sheep, see Burnes' 1'institut present, par divers Savans.' 



'Travels in Bokhara,' vol. iii. p. l.'il. torn, vi., 1835, p. 347. 



" See Report cf the Directors of 



