Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/810

Rh 784 S H E S H E and in the fertile fancy of the poet the play had already gained for him a great dramatic fame, when Colman, the licenser, refused it his sanction, on the plea of its containing certain treasonable allusions, and Shee, in great wrath, re- solved to make his appeal to the public. This violent threat be carried out in 1824, but unfortunately the public found other business to mind, and Alasco is still on the list of unacted dramas. On the death of Lawrence in 1830, Shee was chosen president of the Royal Academy, and shortly afterwards he received the honour of knight- hood. He was excellently qualified by his gentlemanly manners, business habits, and fluent speech for the position; and in the dispute regarding the use of rooms to be pro- vided by Government, and in his examination before the parliamentary committee of 1836, he ably defended the rights of the Academy. He continued to paint till 1845, and died on the 13th of August 1850 in his eightieth year. The earlier portraits of the artist are carefully finished, easy in action, with good drawing and excellent discrimination of character. They show an undue tendency to redness in the flesh painting, a defect which is still more apparent in his later works, in which the handling is less " square, " crisp, and forcible. SHEEP. The animals commonly designated by this name constitute the genus Ovis of zoologists, a group belonging to the Artiodactyle or paired-toed section of the Ungulata or hoofed mammals (see MAMMALIA, vol. xv. p. 432). They are ruminants, and belong to the hollow- horned section, i.e., those having persistent horns composed of conical epidermic sheaths, encasing and supported by processes of the frontal bone. This section includes the various species of Oxen, Goats, and Antelopes, as well as the Sheep, animals all so closely related structurally that it is by no means easy to define the differences between them. In nearly all wild sheep the horns are present in both sexes, though smaller in the female. They are trigonal in section, having always three more or less distinctly marked surfaces, divided by edges running longitudinally to the axis of the horn, sometimes sharply prominent and some- times rounded off. They are also marked by numerous transverse ridges and constrictions, and present a strong more or less spiral curve, which varies in direction in different species. The teeth resemble generally those of the other Bovidx. The upper incisors and canines are entirely wanting, their place being taken by a callous pad against which the lower front teeth bite. These are eight in number, all much alike and in close contact ; the outer pair represent the canines, the rest the incisors. On each side of the mouth above and below are six teeth close together, three of which are premolars (replacing milk teeth) and three true molars, all markedly selenodont (the grinding surfaces presenting crescent-like patterns) and hypsodont, or with long crowns and small roots. The dental formula is thus incisors, canines f, premolars f, molars f, = ^; total of both sides 32. The vertebral formula is cervical 7, dorsal 13, lumbar 6 or 7, sacral 4, caudal variable. In the feet the hoofs of the two middle toes (third and fourth) only reach the ground, and are equally developed. The outer toes (second and fifth) are very rudimentary, represented only by small hoofs, without bony phalanges, and by the proximal or upper ends of the slender splint-like metacarpal or metatarsal bones. Between the two middle toes, in most species, is lodged a deep sac, having the form of a retort and with a small external orifice, which secretes an unctuous and odorous substance. This, tainting the herbage or stones over which the animal walks, affords the means by which, through the powerfully developed sense of smell, the neighbourhood of other individuals of the species is recog- nized. The crumen or suborbital gland, which is so largely developed and probably performs the same office in some antelopes and deer, is present, but in a comparatively rudimentary form, though varying in diflerent species. The tail, though long in many varieties of domestic sheep, is short in all the wild species, in which also the external covering of the body is in the main hairy, the fine fleecy coats of wool, or hair so modified as to have the property of " felting " or adhering together under pressure, which give such value to many breeds, having been especially cultivated by selective breeding. The sheep was a domestic animal in Asia and Europe before the dawn of history, though quite unknown as such in the New World until after the Spanish conquest. It has now been introduced by man into almost all parts of the world where settled agricultural operations are carried on, but flourishes especially in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Whether our well-known and useful animal is derived from any one of the existing wild species, or from the crossing of several, or from some now extinct species, is quite a matter of conjecture. The variations of external characters seen in the different domestic breeds Moufflon (Ovis nmsiiiion). From a living animal in the London Zoological Gardens. are very great. They are chiefly manifested in the form and number of the horns, which may be increased from the normal two to four or even eight, or may be altogether absent in the female alone or in both sexes ; in the form and length of the ears, which often hang pendent by the side of the head ; in the peculiar elevation or arching of the nasal bones in some Eastern races ; in the length of the tail, and the development of great masses of fat at each side of its root or in the tail itself ; and in the colour and quality of the fleece. See AGRICULTURE. The distinction of the various permanent modifications under which wild sheep occur is a matter of considerable, difficulty. Trivial characters, such as size, slight variations in colour, and especially the form and curvature of the horns, are relied upon by different zoologists who have given attention to the subject in the discrimination of species, but no complete accord has yet been established. The most generally recognized forms are enumerated below. The geographical distribution of wild sheep is interesting. The immense mountain ranges of Central Asia, the Pamir and Thian Shan of Turkestan, may be looked upon as the centre of their habitat. Here, at an elevation of 16,000 feet above the sea-level, is the home of the magnificent Ovispoli, named after the celebrate! Venetian traveller Marco Polo, who met with it in his adventurous travels through this region in the 13th century. It is remark- able for the great size of the horns of the old rams and tho wide open sweep of their curve, so that the points stand boldly