. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. RUMINANTIA. 143 of Guinea, which have also long^ tails, are distlngiiished by their long legs, very convex forehead, pendent ears, want of horns, and short coarse hair instead of wool. The Sheep of Northern Europe and Asia are mostly of small size, with a very short tail, [the truth being, that this appendage is merely cut short by the shepherds soon after birth]. Those of Persia, Tartary, and China, have the tail completely transformed into a double globe of fat. The Syrian and Barbary Sheep retain long tails, which
. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. RUMINANTIA. 143 of Guinea, which have also long^ tails, are distlngiiished by their long legs, very convex forehead, pendent ears, want of horns, and short coarse hair instead of wool. The Sheep of Northern Europe and Asia are mostly of small size, with a very short tail, [the truth being, that this appendage is merely cut short by the shepherds soon after birth]. Those of Persia, Tartary, and China, have the tail completely transformed into a double globe of fat. The Syrian and Barbary Sheep retain long tails, which are loaded with a vast mass of fat. In both the latter varieties, the ears are pendent, the horns large in the Rams and middle-sized in the Ewes and Wethers, and the M'ool is intermixed with hair. Sheep are valuable for their flesh, suet, milk, skin, wool, and manure; the flocks, well managed, proving every- where a source of fertility. The Lamb is weaned at two months, and sheds its milk teeth from the first to the third year. Tlie Ewe propagates at one year, and is prolific for ten or twelve ; its period of gestation is five months, and it often yeans two Lambs. The Ram, adult at eighteen months, suffices for thirty Ewes, and is enfeebled at eight years old. The Oxen (Bos, Linn.)— Have horns directed laterally, inclining upwards or forwards in a crescent form; they are large animals, with a broad muzzle, hea%7 and massive body, and stout limbs. The Common Ox (B, taunts, Lin.).—Specifically distinguished by its flat forehead, longer than broad, and round horns, placed at the two extremities of a projecting ridge which separates the forehead from the occiput. In fossil skulls, which appear to have belonged to this species in its original condition (the Urus of the ancients), these horns curve forwards and downwards ; but in the numberless domestic varieties they vary exceedingly in size and direction, and are sometimes altogether wanting. The ordinary races of the torrid zo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublishe, booksubjectanimals
