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Show us SHEEP. CIIAl'. lll. ears, and great Homan noses), lately exhibited in tl.to ZoologieaJ Gardens offer a remarkable instance. Shoe; arc perhaps more readily affected by the direct action of th · conditions of life to which they have been exposed than almo 't any other domestic animal. According to Palla ·, and more r ccntly according to Erman, the fat-tailed. Kirghisian ~beep, when bred for a few generations in RusBia, d.cgcncratc, and the mass of fat dwindles away, "the scanty and. bitter herbago of tho steppes seems so essential to their development." Pallas makes an annJo()'ous statement with respect to one of th • Crimean Lroods. ] ur~os states that tho Karakool breed, which produces a fino, curled, black, and valuable fleece, when romov d from its own canton near Bokhara to Persia or to other quarters, loses its peculiar flooce.90 In all such cases, however, it may be that a change of any kind in the conditions of life causes variability and consequent loss of character, and not that ecrtain conditions arc necessary for the development of certain characters. Great heat, however, seems to act directly on the fleece: several accounts have been published of the change which sheep imported from Europe undergo in tho West Indios. Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs me that, after the third generation, tho wool diBappears from the whole body, except over the loins ; and. tho animal then appears like a goat with a dirty <loor-mat on its back. A similar chango is said to take place on tho west coast of Africa.91 On tho other hand, many woolbearing sheep live on the hot plains of India. Roulin assorts t.hat in the lower and heated valleys of tho Cordillera, if the lambs are sheared as soon as the wool has grown to a certain thiclmess, all goes on afterwards as usual ; but if not sheared, the wool detaches itself in flakes, and short shining hair like that vo Erman's ''l'mvols in Siberia' (Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 228. For Pallas on tho fi•t-tailcu sheep, I quote from Andorl:! On's nocount of tho 'Shoop of H.ussia,' 17!:H:, p. 34. With respect to the Crimean sheep, see .Pullns' 'Travels ' (Eng. tr:ms.), vol. ii. p. 451. :For the Karakool sh op, sec Dnrnm;' ''I' ravels in Bokhara,' vol. iii. p. 151 . nt See Report of tho Dir cton:; of the Sierra Leone Company, as quoted in White's ' Gradation of Man,' p. 95. With respect to tho change which sheep undergo in the West Indies, see also Dr. Davy, in 'Edin. New. Phil. JoUl'no.l,' Jan. 1852. :For tho statement made by Roulin, see 'Mcm. clo l'Institut present. par diver~:~ Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p. 347. CHAP. Ill. CAUSES OF VARIATION. 99 on a goat is produced ever after ' . . . seems merely to b "\\ards. This cunous result Merino breed fo e an exaggerated tendency natural to the . ' r as a great authority 1 L viDe, remarks "tlle 1 f' . ' name y, ord Somer- . ' woo o our Mer h f IS hard and coarse to 1 d 1110 s cep a ter shear-time c sue 1 a e()'r c a t d . . possible to suprJoso tl. t tl b ~ o ren or It almost im-ua 10 same amm I ld b opposite in qnulity, com arcd to h a. cou ear wool so from it: as the c ll p h t at whiCh has been clipped o ( wcat or advan th fl their soft qu·:tli'ty, A . 1 ces, e eeces recover < • s 111 s 1ecp f 11 b d rally consists of Ion()' . d o a . ree s the fleece natu- . o ei an coarser ha1 · · softer wool the b h' . 1 covermg shorter and . ' c ange w ICh It often d · Is. probably merely a , f un ergoes m hot climates · ca e o unequal d 1 With those sheep wh' h lik eve opment; for even IC e goats are d · small quantity of underl ii . covere With hair, a the wild mountain-she y Ig(Ow?ol may always be founcl.92 In tl . ep ms montana) f N th . wre IS an annual 1 ° or Amenca • < ana ogous chang f beg111s to drop out in earl s rin . e ~ ?oat; "the wool hair resembling that of th p 11-g, leavmg m Its place a coat of f . t · e e ~, a chan()'e of p 1 . er.e n 111 character froin tl1 e orel 'm ary thib 1- · e afg e qmte dif-hmr, common to ali f un..e d am.m als . c '-enmg o the coat or m · t i' . the horse, the cow &c h' 1 h w~ er,-10r mstance, in spring." ' ., W IC 1 S eel tb · t 93 en· W111 er coat in the A slight difference in climate o. . affects the fleece as has b b I pasture sometimes slightly . ' een o served e · di.Cl' m England and as 1·s 11 h ven 111 uerent districts wool broug' ht from S wet h s own by th. e great softness of the b ou ern Australia B t 't h o served, as Youatt repeated! . . · u 1 s ould be may generally be counteracte~ I:si:~;:;:t the t~ndency to change after discussing this sub'e ·t y, selectiOn. M. Lasterye, vation of the Merino ~ c : s~ms up as follows: " Tho preser- G race m Its utmost ··t ?od Hope, in the marshes of Holl pun y at the Cape of climate of Sweden f . h and, and un<lor the riO'orous ' urms es a d r t' b unalterable principle t] t :fi n a c I wnal support of this my wherever industrious :Ue~aand ~e;'~~·olled sheep may be kept That methodical sele ·t· h. m e Igent breeders exist." · c IOn as effected 0' ·e t h · 92 y o1 a c anges rn several ouatt on Shoo 6 Lord Some ill . p, P· 9, where on the . rv • o IS quotc<l. See p. 117, W . plcsenco of wool under the h· .. Jtlt respect to th .uJ. I ian shoe 1 "' e fleeces of Austral' p. !8,). On selection conn-t~ m.cting any tondcucy to chan pp. 70, 117. 120 168 go, see 93 , • Audubon and Bachman 'Th Quarlruporls of North Americ;, 1846e vol. v. p. 365. ' ' H 2 |