146 
THE MERINO, 
judicious treatment of many British flocks ; and there 
can be no doubt, that such an experiment would be 
well worth trying. Under this impression, I cannot 
help expressing a wish, that the Society, to whose 
consideration these remarks are submitted, would 
exert their influence for accomplishing an object 
which may prove of national importance.”* 
In the specimen which we have figured, the ex- 
ternal coat consists entirely of the hair, which Mr 
Laurie alludes to as unfit for purposes of manu- 
facture, forming a dense and deer-like covering, but 
at the root of this there is abundance of very close, 
line, but short wool, w’hich would be unattainable 
for any purpose, unless the hairs could be got rid of 
by the influence of a milder climate, and improve- 
ment or change of the breed. 
The specimen in the Edinburgh Museum stands 
three feet two inches high at the shoulder, and is in 
length about three feet five inches. The general 
colour is a pale opaque wood-brown, having a pecu- 
liar dull tint. The lower parts are paler, nearly 
white, and the buttocks are mai'ked with the pale 
dusk of the deer. The horns are large, about thirty- 
one inches long, and fifteen and a half inches in 
circumference at the base. Dr llichardson remarks 
that the old rams are nearly entirely white in the 
spring, occasioned by the rubbing or wearing of the 
hair, which is coloured only at the tips. IVe are 
Wern. Trairs. vol. iii. p. 310. 
