ersia, Tartary, and China, have their tails transformed
into a double spherical mass of fat. The sheep of Syria and
Barbary, on the other hand, have long tails, but likewise loaded
with a mass of fat. In both of these varieties of the sheep the
ears are pendant, the horns of the rams large, and those of the
ewes and lambs of moderate size, and the body is covered with wool,
mixed more or less with hair.

"New breeds of sheep are frequently formed in different countries
in which particular qualities predominate, according to the
preference of the breeders. This is done, partly by crossing or
intermixing races already constituted and well known; but in great
part also by selecting individuals from the stock in which the
particular qualities are more strongly marked than in the
generality of the same breed. In these instances, the natural or
congenital variety which the individual animal displays, perhaps
for the first time, becomes perpetuated by the hereditary
transmission of such characters, which is a law of the animal
economy. A striking instance of this fact is to be found in the
origination of a new breed of sheep in the state of Massachusetts,
which has been noticed by many writers in connexion with this
subject. In the year 1791, one ewe on the farm of Seth Wright gave
birth to a male lamb, which, without any known cause, had a longer
body and shorter legs than the rest of the breed. The joints are
said to have been longer, and the fore-legs crooked. The shape of
this animal rendering it unable to leap over fences, it was
determined to propagate its peculiarities, and the experiment
proved successful; a new race of sheep was produced, which, from
the form of the body, has been termed the otter breed. It seems to
be uniformly the fact, that when both parents are of the otter
breed, the lambs that are produced inherit the peculiar form."

We might extract other instances of physiological and psychological
changes induced by domestication, but we think enough have been given to
show the character and degree of such changes. The least important
change, and that which appears the soonest affected, is the colour of
the skin and hair. This is universally of an uniform tint in wild
animals, and generally bears a close approximation to the colour of the
land in which the animal l