18 OVIS ARIES. 



grassy or heathy pastures. It is averse to moist ground, marshy 

 meadows, and is said to require less water than most ruminating 

 animals. Though naturally inoffensive and timid, it docs not 

 appear to be that inanimate creature described by Button, who 

 represents it as devoid of every art of self-preservation, destitute of 

 courage, deprived of every instinctive faculty ; as, in short, the 

 most stupid and contemptible of all quadrupeds. The female goes 

 with young about five months, and produces one, sometimes two, 

 rarely three at a birth. This animal exists in perfection chiefly in 

 Europe and some of the temperate tracts of Asia. When trans- 

 ported into very warm climates, it looses its peculiar covering and 

 appears coated with hair ; it is likewise less prolific, and no longer 

 retains the same flavour. Thus the African or Guinea sheep is 

 clad in hair ; they have long limbs, pendulous ears, and a kind of 

 mane on the back. The Syrian, Egyptian, Persian, and Barbary 

 sheep has the wool coarse, the ears pendulous, and the tail very 

 long, broad, and remarkably fat. Another singular variety, again, 

 termed the fat-rumped, or Tartarian sheep, is characterised by the 

 want of tail, and the presence of two large cushions of suet on the 

 hinder part which covers the rump. The Asiatic breeds have 

 some of them the broad tail of the African Sheep, very long legs, 

 pendant ears, and a very short fleece. The Astracan breed is 

 distinguished by its fine spirally curled wool. The Circassian 

 Sheep has the tail of such length as to trail upon the ground, and 

 the other Asiatic varieties are distinguished by the number of their 

 horns, which vary from four to six. The "Wallachian or Cretan 

 breed is chiefly distinguished by its large, upright, curiously twisted 

 horns, and its long shaggy fleece. America, India, and China, also 

 possess particular breeds, but it is in Europe that, at the present 

 day, the most useful varieties are found. Of these, the Merino 

 sheep of Spain, here figured, holds the first place among the 

 European varieties. It has spiral horns, lengthened outwards, 

 and affords wool of a quality much finer than any of the other 

 breeds. The fleece upon the Merino sheep weighs upon an 

 average from three to five pounds. Its colour is unlike that of any 

 other breed ; on the surface it is of a dark brown, approaching 

 almost to black, which is produced by dust adhering to the greasy 



