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Show 100 SHEEP. CHAl'. Ill. tl ·no- on tho subject, br eels of sheep no one, who knows any 11 b . . d b entertains a doubt. Tho case of the Southdowns, as rUmpiOvc . y Ellman offers perhaps the mos t st n· k·m· bo- insta< nc' e • ndc onscwust < ' • 1.1 · lowly produce a grca or occasional selectiOn has 1 rewisc s . r'Il t effect, as we shall see m. th 0 ch a pters on SelectiOn.. 1da crossm. g h as 1a rgo 1Y mo d'If ied some breeds '. no one who. wSi ll stu ·y' what has been written on this su~ject-for m~ta~ce, Mr. poo~cr s paper-WI'1 1 d1' spu t·e ., but to produce unif.o rm,r ty m a .c rossedh breed, care f u1 se 1e c t1·o n ca nd "rigorous weedmg, as this aut or ex-presses it, arc indispcnsable.94 •• In some few instc·wces new breeds have suddenly orrgmat~d; t] · 1791 a ram-lamb was born in Massachusetts, havmg 1us, m , 't d F short crooked legs and a long back, like a turnspr - og. . rom this one lamb the otter or ancon semi-monstrous br?ed was ra1sed; 118 these sheep could not leap over tho fences, rt was thought that they would be valuable ; but they have been supplanted by merinos, and thus exterminated. r.I:hese sheep are re~markable from transmitting their character so truly that Colonel Humphreys 95 never heard of " but_ one questionab_le case" of an a.ncon ram and ewe not producmg ancon offsprmg. When they are crossed with other breeds ~he o_ffspring, with rare exceptions, instead of being intermedrate m characte~·, perfectly resemble either parent ; and this has occurred even m the case of twins. Lastly, "the ancons have been observed to keep together, separating themselves from the rest of the flock when put into enclosures with other sheep." . .A more interesting case has been recorded m the Heport of the Juries for the Great Exhibition (1851), namely, the production of a merino ram-lamb on the Mauchamp farm, in 1828, which was remarkable for its long, smooth, straight, and silky' wool. By the year 1833 M. Graux had raised rams enough to serve his whole flock, and after a few more years he was able to sell stock of his new breed. So peculiar and valuable is the wool, that it sells at 25 per cent. above the best merino wool : even the fleeces of half:.bred animals are valuable, and are known in France as the " Mauchamp-merino." It is interesting, as 94 'Journal of R. Agrieult. Soc. of England,' vol. xx., part ii. W. C. Spooner on Cross-Breeding. ns ' Philosoph. Transactions,' London, 1813, p. 88. CuAP. ur. GOATS. 101 showing how generally any marked deviation of structure is accompanied by other deviations, that the first ram and his immediate off-,pring were of small size, with large heads, long necks, narrow chests, and long flanks; but these blemishes were removed· by judicious crosses and selection. The long smooth wool was also correlated with smooth horns ; and as horns and hair are homologous structures, we can understand the meaning of this correlation. If the Mauchamp and ancon breeds had originated a century or two ago, we should have had no record of their birth ; and many a naturalist would no doubt have insisted, especially in the case of the Mauchamp race, that they had each descended from, or been crossed with, some unknown aboriginal form. GOAT~';. FROM the recent researches of M. Brandt, most naturalists now believe that all our goats are descended from the Capra aJgagrus of the mountains of .Asia, possibly mingled with the allied Indian species G. llalconeri of India.96 In Switzerland, during the early Stone period, the domestic goat was commoner than the sheep ; and this very ancient race differed in no respect from that now c~mmo~ in Switzerland.97 .At the present time, the many races found m several parts of the world differ greatly from each ot~er; ne:crtheless, as far as they have been tried,98 they arc a11 qmte fertile when crossed. So numerous are the breeds, that Mr. G. Clark 99 has described eight distinct kinds imported into the one island of Mauritius. The ears of one kind were enormously developed, being, as measured by 1\fr. Clark no less than HI inches in length and 41- inches in breadth. 'As with cattle, the mammre of those breeds which are regularly milked become greatly developed ; and, as Mr. Clark remarks "it is not. rare to see their teats touching the ground.': The followmg cases are worth notice as presenting unusual 96 Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, • Hist. Nat. Generale,' tom. ill. p. 87. Mr. Blyth(' Lnnd and Water,' 1867, p. 37) has ani vecl at n. similar conclusion, but he thinks thn.t certain Enstern races may perhaps be in part rlcsrended from the Asiatic mnrkhor. 97 Rlitimcyer, • Pfahlbauton,' s. 127. 98 Godron, ' De l'Especo,' tom. i. p. 402. 99 • Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol. ii. (2nd series), 1818, p. 3G3. |