142 
MAMMALIA. 
The Wild Goat, or ^gagrus (C. <egagrus, Gm.) — Appears to be the stock of all our domestic breeds, and is dis- 
tinguished by its anteriorly sharp horns, very large in the male, short and sometimes wanting in the female ; 
are very small, with horns inclining backwards. All of them are robust, capricious, wandering animals, that 
betray their mountain origin by aiFecting dry and wild situations, where they feed on coarse herbage and the 
shoots of bushes. They do much injury in forests. The kid only is eaten, but their milk is useful in several 
diseases. The female can produce at seven months, and goes with young five months ; she generally yeans two 
kids. The male engenders at a year old, and one suffices for more than a hundred females : in five or six years 
he becomes aged. 
The Ibex (C. ibex, Lin.).— Immense horns, square in front, and marked with prominent transverse knots. It 
inhabits the most elevated summits of lofty mountain chains, throughout the whole ancient Continent. The 
Caucasian Ibex (C. caucasica), has great triangular horns, obtuse but not square in front, and notched as in the 
preceding. Both species propagate with the Domestic Goat. The African Maned Ibex (C. <ethiopica) is another. 
[These various animals with enormous horns are said to precipitate themselves fearlessly down precipices, always 
falling on the horns, the elasticity of which secures them from injury. Those who have observed the force with ; 
which domestic Rams butt at each other, mutually striking the forehead, will feel less surprise at the Ibexes i 
withstanding the shock of a fall,] ' 
Have horns directed backward, and then inclining spirally more or less forward ; their chanfrin is 
generally convex, and they have no beard. They so little merit to be generically separated from the 
wild races or species, closely allied together. ' 
The Argali, or Wild Sheep of Siberia {Ov, ammon, Lin.), — the male of which has very large horns, triangular at 
base, the angles rounded, flattened in front, and transversely striated ; those of the female are falchion-shaped and i 
compressed. Its hair, in summer, is short and greyish-fulvous ; in winter close, stiff, and reddish-grey, with some s| 
white or whitish upon the muzzle, throat, and under-parts. There is always, as in the Stag, a yellowish space 
around the tail, which latter is very short. This animal inhabits the mountains of all Asia, and attains the stature 
of a Fallow Deer. [A smaller and distinct species inhabits the Himmalaya mountains, which is termed the 
Burrhal: there are specimens in the Museums of the Linnaean and Zoological Societies, London.] 
The Corsican Moufflon {Ov. musimon. Pal.)— appears to differ only in its inferior size, and in the deficiency or 
smallness of the horns in the female sex. It is said to be also found in Crete. There are some varieties wholly 
or partially black, and others more or less white. 
It is probable that the American Moufflon {Ov. montana) is a species of Argali, which may have crossed the sea 
on the ice. Its horns are very stout, and more perfectly spiral than those of the Asiatic Argali. 
The African Moufflon {Ov. tragelephus, Cuv.) has soft reddish hair, with a long mane hanging under the neck, 
and another at each ankle ; the tail short : it appears to be a distinct species, and inhabits the rocky regions of 
Barbary ; M. Geoffroy observed it in Egypt. 
From the Moufflon or Argali, it is believed that the innumerable breeds of our woolly domestic Sheep have been 
derived ; animals which, the Dog alone excepted, have split into a greater number of varieties than any other. 
[One remarkable fact, however, at variance with this supposition, and which we have never yet found to be 
noticed, is, that all the wild races have exceedingly short tails, whereas the domestic breeds have generally, if 
not always when unmutilated, tails that reach nearly to the ground. It is easier to conceive the loss of this 
appendage in certain domestic breeds, than its acquirement or extension, and the latter theory is borne out 
by no analogy]. 
We have some in Europe with fine or common wool ; large and small ; with big or little horns, wanting in the 
female, or in both sexes, &c. The most interesting varieties are the Spanish or Merino, which has a fine curly 
fleece, with large spiral horns in the male, now beginning to be diffused through Europe, and the English, which 
has long and fine wool. The most common variety in southern Russia has a very long tail. Those of India and 
which is also sometimes the case with the different 
Ibexes. It inhabits the mountains of Persia in 
troops, where it is known by the appellation pasing, 
and perhaps those of several other countries, even 
the Alps. The oriental bezoar is a concretion found 
in its intestines. 
Domestic Goats (G. hircus, Lin.), vary exceed- 
ingly in size, colour, and the length and texture of 
their coat ; also in the magnitude, and even the 
number of their horns. Those of Angora and 
Cappadocia have the longest and most silky hair. 
The Thibet Goats are celebrated for the admirably 
fine wool which grows among their hair, of which 
the Cashmere stuffs are fabricated. There is a race 
in Upper Egypt with short hair, convex chanfrin. 
Fig. 63. — Angora Goat. 
'me vjruais ui uruiiiea, teriueu mamurines d,inxjuiaa, 
The Sheep {Ovis, Lin.) — 
Goats, that the two produce by intermixture a fertile offspring. As in the Goats, there are several 
