Of all the breeds of Sheep the Merino of Spain is one of the most important, on account of the excellence of its wool. In England the breed can hardly be said to exist, because the dampness of the climate does not suit its constitution. It is extensively found in Germany, and is _the_ Sheep of Australia. The animal is small, flat-sided, and long-legged. The males have long horns, these appendages being absent in the females. The face, ears, and legs are dark, and the forehead is woolly, at the same time that the skin about the throat is lax. The body-wool is close-set, soft, twisted in a spiral, and short. In Great Britain the breeds of Sheep are very numerous, some of the best being of quite recent origin. First among the heavy breeds are the Dishley, or Improved Leicesters, which, from their early maturity, aptness to fatten, smallness of bone, and gentle disposition, well deserve the high repute in which they stand. It is to the persevering energy and acuteness of Mr. Bakewell that we are indebted for the present animal, which in origin is far from pure bred. His aim was entirely in the direction of the carcass, and in his object he and his followers have quite succeeded, notwithstanding an inherent delicacy in constitution and an inferiority of the wool. “The head of this breed,” we are told, “should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, and projecting horizontally forwards; the eyes prominent, and with a quiet expression; the ears thin, rather long, and directed backwards; the neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds from the chest, but gradually tapering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the junction of the head and neck; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continuous horizontal line from the rump to the poll; the breast broad and full; the shoulders also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the back, particularly no rising of the withers or hollow behind the situation of these bones; the arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee; the bones of the leg small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool; the chest and barrel at once deep and round; the ribs forming a considerable arch from the spine, so as in some cases--and especially when the animal is in good condition--to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth; the barrel ribbed well home; no irregularity of line on the back or the belly, but on the sides, the carcass very gradually diminishing in width towards the rump; the quarters long and full, and, as with the fore-legs, the muscles extending down to the hock; the thighs also wide and full; the legs of a moderate length; the pelt moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as