BELOCHISTAN SHEEP (OVIS BLANFORDI HUME).
RAM FROM TUNIS.
Former authorities have been unwilling to admit that the domestic sheep have come from any species of wild sheep of the present time. They hold that they are the descendants of one or more species of wild sheep that are now extinct. Recently, however, men have thought more deeply and freely on such subjects, and Nehring and others have traced the modern tame sheep back to the mouflon, but not to him alone. It is thought that in this case, as with other domestic animals, there has been a mixture of species, and in this connection attention was directed to the Transcaspian arkal, the argalis of the interior of Asia and the North African species. Dr. Heck, director of the Berlin Zoological Garden, thinks that the horns of the tame ram, which are turned outward, the points being directed away from the body, constitute one of the strongest proofs that the blood of the argalis and its extinct European ancestors—which are known only by the fossil remains—flows in the veins of all domestic sheep.
The other characteristic marks of the domestic sheep—the wool and the length of the tail—vary greatly. The heath sheep—the little, contented, weather-hardened grazing sheep of the Lüneburg and other heaths—belong to one of the oldest species, and their tails are as short and their horns as dark as those of the moufflon. A cross between these two breeds is not distinguishable, even in the second generation, as has been shown by the interesting experiments in the Düsseldorf Zoological Garden.
HEATH SHEEP.
The little, black and red-spotted Cameroons sheep, from the western coast of Africa, have not a trace of wool. But why should they have? The negroes need no clothing, and, consequently, they have not bred sheep with wool; and, besides, such an animal could not live in the tropics, even if the black man were a much better stock raiser and breeder than he is. The mane on the neck, and breast of the Cameroons ram reminds one of the North American sheep; but it must be remembered that the mouflon and arkal rams have this ornament quite clearly, although not so strongly defined.
