rudimentary ears, and great Roman noses), lately exhibited in the
Zoological Gardens, offer a remarkable instance.

Sheep are perhaps more readily affected by the direct action of the
conditions of life to which they have been exposed than almost any other
domestic animal. According to Pallas, and more recently according to Erman,
the fat-tailed Kirghisian sheep, when bred for a few generations in Russia,
degenerate, and the mass of fat dwindles away, "the scanty and bitter
herbage of the steppes seems so essential to their development." Pallas
makes an analogous statement with respect to one of the Crimean breeds.
Burnes states that the Karakool breed, which produces a fine, curled,
black, and valuable fleece, when removed from its own canton near Bokhara
to Persia or to other quarters, loses its peculiar fleece. (3/91. Erman
'Travels in Siberia' English translation volume 1 page 228. For Pallas on
the fat-tailed sheep I quote from Anderson's account of the 'Sheep of
Russia' 1794 page 34. With respect to the Crimean sheep see Pallas
'Travels' English translation volume 2 page 454. For the Karakool sheep see
Burnes 'Travels in Bokhara' volume 3 page 151.) In all such cases, however,
it may be that a change of any kind in the conditions of life causes
variability and consequent loss of character, and not that certain
conditions are necessary for the development of certain characters.

Great heat, however, seems to act directly on the fleece: several accounts
have been published of the change which sheep imported from Europe undergo
in the West Indies. Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs me that, after the
third generation, the wool disappears from the whole body, except over the
loins; and the animal then appears like a goat with a dirty door-mat on its
back. A similar change is said to take place on the west coast of Africa.
(3/92. See Report of the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company as quoted in
White 'Gradation of Man' page 95. With respect to the change which sheep