332 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book VIII. 
the ram to reject the young and prefer the old ones, and he him- 
self is more serviceable when old,^ and when deprived of his 
horns.^ He is also rendered less violent by having one horn 
pierced towards the ear. If the right testicle is tied up, the 
ram will generate females, and if the left, males. The noise of 
thunder produces abortion in sheep, if they are left alone ; to 
prevent such accidents, they are brought together into flocks, 
that they may be rendered less timid by being in company. 
"When the north-east wind blows, malfes are said to be conceived ; 
and when the south wind, females. In this kind of animal, 
the mouth of the ram is especially looked to, for whatever may 
be the colour of the veins under the tongue, the wool of the 
young one will be of a similar colour. If these veins are 
many in number, it will be mottled. Any change, too, in their 
water or drink, will render them mottled. 
There are two principal kinds of sheep, the covered and 
the colonic,^* or common sheep ; the former is the more tender 
animal, but the latter is more nice about its pastures, for the 
8 The expression " senecta melior," here employed, is limited by Colu- 
mella, lihi supra^ to the third year. — B. 
9 Columella, B. vii. c. 8, remarks, " "When deprived of his horns he 
knows himself to be disarmed, as it were, and is not so ready to quarrel 
and is less vehement in his passion." 
10 Columella, B. vii. c. 23, refers to this practice ; he informs us, B. vi, 
0. 28, that it is practised with respect to the horse. It is also referred tc 
by Aristotle, De Gen. Anim. B. iv. c. 1. — B. 
11 For this we have the authority of Aristotle, uhi supra, and of Colu- 
mella, ubi siipra^ who quotes from Virgil in support of it, Geor. B. iii. 1. 
387, etseq. — B. "Although the'ram be white himself, if there is a black 
tongue beneath the palate, reject him, that he may not tinge the fleece of 
the young with black spots." 
12 Yarro, B. ii. c. 2, remarks, "While the coupling is taking place, you 
must use the same water ; for if it is changed, it will render the wool 
spotted, and injure the womb." 
13 Tectse." The context shews that this means covered with skins or 
a woollen girth, probably on account of their delicate nature, while the 
common sheep of husbandry, or the " colonic" sheep, were able to endure 
the rigour of the weather without any such protection. 
1* The words are tectum and colonicum; Columella, B. vii. c. 4, uses the 
terms moUe and hirsutum, and Yarro, B. ii. c. 2, pellitum and hirtum. The 
first obtained its name from its being covered with skins, to protect its 
delicate fleece. The colonic is so called, from " colonus," a "husband- 
man," this kind being so common as to be found in any village ; whereas 
the tectae were rare. 
