308 ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP 



Remarks for the Wernerian Society on the Skit, 

 of the Rocky Mountain Sheep. 



The skin submitted to us, is, in the minutes of 

 the Society, denominated that of " The Rocky 

 Mountain Sheep ;" and, from the wool with which 

 it is covered, it may certainly be considered as near- 

 ly allied to that genus of quadrupeds, though, had 

 it wanted this woolly covering, we would probably 

 have been inclined to consider it as more allied to 

 the goat. The general figure of this skin is very 

 different from that of any sheep's skin I have ever 

 seen. The difference is perhaps most remarkable 

 in the length and figure of the neck, which, in no 

 slight degree, resembles that of a thorough bred 

 horse. The general structure of the head, exter- 

 nally viewed, does not appear to vary from that of 

 other sheep, more than might be ascribed to acci- 

 dental circumstances. To this remark, however, 

 the horns form a remarkable exception. Their po- 

 sition i& very different from what is observed in the 

 common sheep. Their curvature is also different, — 

 circumstances which deserve more particular notice, 

 on account of their being connected with other im- 

 portant diversities of character : These are the 

 smoothness of the horns, and their circular, or ra- 

 ther conical shape, — two particulars in which they 

 differ from the horns of every species of sheep with 

 which either history or observation has made us ac- 



