OVIS ARIES. 17 



III. 



OVIS ARIES. 

 Common, or Domestic Sheep. 



Order Pecora, Lin. Ruminantia, Cuv. 



Gen. Char. Incisors ° ; canines % — f ; molars % — 1=32. 

 Horns common to both sexes, sometimes wanting in 

 the female, thiek, angular, wrinkled transversely, 

 pale colored, turned laterally in a spiral form ; ears 

 small ; legs slender ; hair of two kinds ; tail more or 

 less short ; two mammae. 



Spec. Char. Horns very strong, arched backwards, 

 and curved downwards and towards the point ; general 

 color fawn, more or less brown. 



Ovis; Plinii, llh. V«i. o. 4S. Gesner Quadr. 771. RaiiSyn. Quadr. 73. Widden 

 Schaaf ; Klein. Quadr. 13. La Jire/is, Buffon, Hist. Nat. torn. v. p. 1. Ovis 

 Aries; Pennant, Quadr. i. p 37. Shaw, Zool. ii. p. 3J<5. Brebis, Fr.; 

 Pecore, It.; Pecora; Ganado Lanar, Sp.; Agnes, Russ.; Elg. Arab.; 

 Barak} Pers. 



No particular description of the Sheep, an animal known to every 

 one, seems to be required. The horns, common to both sexes, 

 are sometimes wanting in the females. The body is covered with 

 two kinds of hair ; the one hard and close, the other soft and 

 woolly. The sheep is nowhere found wild, we therefore know 

 nothing of its habits and manners in a state of nature ; for in every 

 country in Europe these animals are all private property ; even in 

 the mountainous wilds of Asia, Africa, and America, they are still 

 under the guidance of the shepherds and their dogs. It is a gre- 

 garious animal, and is found in almost every corner of the globe, 

 prefcring dry open plains, and moderately elevated and warm 



c 



