FINE WOOL SILEEP HUSBANDRY. 75 
think that in 1840 they were about as heavy sheep as 
Mr. Jarvis’s, and had the same Spanish figure—that is 
to say, they were taller, thinner, longer necked and 
finer boned than our present Merinos. I should say 
they were a little flatter in the ribs than No. 1, and a 
little deeper in the chest. They were peculiarly deep- 
chested, and not only had a very marked Spanish ap- 
pearance, but the marked individuality of sheep trom 
one cabana. Their skins were mellow, loose, and of 
a fine deep color. The ram had a pendulous dewlap, 
and some moderate sized neck-folds. Some of the 
ewes had dewlaps, but otherwise their skins were free 
from corrugation. The external color of the fleece 
was very dark, sometimes a pitchy black, shining and 
sticky in hot weather, and forming a rigid crust in 
cold weather. The inside was so filled with yolk that 
every fibre seemed to have been dipped in it, and it 
often stood in small globules between the fibres. The 
inside yolk was thin, generally colorless, and perfectly 
limpid. The sheep were not wooled below the eye, 
knee, and hock. The wool was rather short—consider- 
ably shorter than that of No.1 and No. 3, and did 
not carry out its length so well on the belly, forehead, 
cheeks, and legs near the knees as No. 8. The wool 
flock have obtained “‘their credit” from Hscurial rams! What authority 
has my informant for pronouncing sheep notoriously bred from a ewe 
from Colonel Humphreys’ own flock, to be Negrettis, and “the hardest 
kind of Spanish sheep?” Judge of my astonishment when I find the 
same person claiming, ina published letter seventeen years ago, that 
his own sheep, instead of being originally Infantados, were “ a pari of 
them Negrettis anda part Montarcos!” These slips of memory at least 
admonish us that similar ones may have occurred in other instances. 
Again I say the matter is of little consequence, except as one of justice 
to an old breeder who deserves well of the public; and when such de- 
tails are given at all, they should be correctly given. 
—~e 
