524 
VERTEBRATA. 
FRENCH SHEEP. 
— liorned and hornless, long-wooled and sliort-AA'ooled, coarsc-wooled and iine-wooled, black- 
faced and wliite-faced- — are all found on our farms, or at least known to our farmers and graziers. 
At the present time it is supposed there are 30,000,000 of sheej) in the United States.* 
Among the varieties of sheep distinguished for peculiar and striking qualities, we may mention 
the Wallachian Sheep, common not only in Wallachia but in Candia, Hungary, and Western 
Asia among tlie Tartar tribes. It is remarkable for its horns, which ascend almost perpen- 
dicularly from the skull, making a scries of spiral turns, and thus sometimes rising to the height 
of a foot or even two feet. The fleece consists of long, straight hair, firm and close set, dividing 
on the back, and falling on each side almost to the ground. Beneath this is a quantity of short, 
fine wool. A ram of this breed, from Mount Parnassus, was some time since presented to the 
London Zoological Society, by Dr. Bowring; it was a large, powerful, and majestic-looking crea- 
ture, but was uni'uly and vicious. 
The Fat-rumped or Broad-tailed Sheep, found in Syria, Egypt, and the adjacent countries, 
are supposed to be the breed cultivated by the patriarchs and their descendants, the Jews. There 
are many varieties, some being covered with hair and some with fine wool ; some have horns 
and some have none ; some are of one color and some of another. Their general peculiarity con- 
sists in having a tail sometimes so enormously developed as to weigh fifty or even a hundred 
* The number of domesticated sheep in different countries has been estimated as follows : 
In Great Britain 40,000,000 
France, of which nearly a million are Merinos, of varioiis grades 28,000,000 
Spain, of which ten millions are Merinos 20,000,000 
Other countries of Europe 80,000,000 
America 60,000,000 
Australia, where sheep have been introduced and cultivated with great success , 5,000,000 
Asia and Asiatic islands, estimated 100,000,000 
Africa and African islands - 40,000,000 
Total 873,000,000 
A great part of this estimate is, of course, conjectural, but it may serre to convey to the mind an impression of the 
immense extent to which the sheep enters into the wants, comforts, and luxuries of man. 
