Ovis Aries. Linn.—Var. Guineensis.

In characterizing the present genus, were we to look solely¹ at the animal such as we have it daily before our eyes, the distinction between it and all the other Ruminants is too striking to be for a moment mistaken. But the insensible gradations which connect this familiar denizen² of our downs and pastures with the untamed native of the desert and the precipice³, and the close affinity⁴ which subsists⁵ between the latter and the goats, render it almost impossible to isolate⁶ them by any satisfactory characters. On the present occasion we shall content ourselves with observing that the sheep may generally be distinguished⁷ by the direction of their[198] horns, by the elevation⁸ of their profile, and by their want of beard: characters neither essential nor infallible, but the best that can be offered.

The variety figured over leaf is in one of the many intermediate stages between unreclaimed barbarism and complete domestication⁹. It is an awkward looking creature, high on the legs, narrow in the loins, and covered with a rough and shaggy coat. The back and sides are nearly black; the shoulders reddish brown; and the posterior part of the body, the haunches, the hind¹⁰ legs, and the tail, white; as are also the ears, which are rather large, the nose, and a spot over each eye. The horns, although the specimen¹¹ is a male, are

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