Chap. 76.] 
GOATS. 
339 
fair breed, when the legs are short, and the belly is covered 
with wool ; when this part is bare, they used to be called 
apicse, and were looked upon as worthless. The tail of the 
Syrian sheep is a cubit in length,"^^ and it is upon that part 
that most of the wool is found. It is considered too early to 
castrate lambs before they are five months old. 
(49.) There is in Spain, and more especially in Corsica, a 
peculiar kind of animal called the musmon,'^^ not very unlike a 
sheep, but with a fleece which more resembles the hair of the 
goat than the wool of the sheep. The ancients gave the name 
of umbri'''^ to the breed between this animal and the sheep. 
The head of the sheep is the weakest part of all, on which 
account it is obliged, when it feeds, to turn away from the 
sun."^* The animals which are covered with wool are the most 
stupid of all."^^ When they are afraid to enter any place, if 
one is only dragged into it by the horns, all the rest will 
follow. The longest duration of their life is ten years ; but in 
Ethiopia it is thirteen. Goats live in that country eleven 
years, but in other parts of the world mostly eight years only. 
Both of these animals require to be covered not more than four 
times to ensure conception. 
CHAP. 76. (50.)— GOATS AOT THEIK PEOPAGATIOIST. 
The goat occasionally brings forth as many as four at a 
birth ; but this is rarely the case.'''^ It is pregnant five months, 
''^ Pliny probably took this from Varro, B. ii. c. 2. This term is derived 
from TTHKb)^ "to shear," with the negative prefix. — B. 
"'^ The word " cubitales " alone is used, which might be supposed to 
refer only to the length of the tail ; hut Hardouin conceives that it must 
also apply to the breadth, and refers to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 
28, and others, in proof of the great size which the tails of the Syrian 
sheep attain, and which would not he indicated by merely saying that they 
are a cubit long ; this being little more than the ordinary length in other 
countries. — B. 
According to Hardouin, this term, or some word nearly resembling it, 
was applied to mules or mongrels, as well as to individual animals of di- 
minutive size or less perfect form.— B. Called " moufflon " by the French. 
'•^ The term *'umhri" appears to have been applied to a mongrel or less 
perfect animal ; like "musmon," it is of uncertain derivation. — B. 
''^ So also Varro, ubi supra^ and Columella, B. vii. c. 3. — B. See also 
B. xviii. c. 76. 
This remark, and the others in the remainder of this Chapter, appear 
to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3. — B. 
"'^ We have an account of the generation of the goat in Aristotle, Hist. 
z 2 
