Dr. Heck considers the long tail of the domestic sheep the chief impediment to the adoption of the theory of its descent from the short-tailed wild sheep. And yet, in sheep, this member is of secondary importance, for it varies greatly in form. The short-tailed heath sheep are just the opposite of the fat-tailed Persian sheep, which are represented in a fabulous account as being obliged to draw their broad tails, that weighed 40 pounds, behind them on wheels. These are the sheep that supply the Astrakan and Persian lamb which is so much worn now. The fur is caused to lie in peculiar waves or tight rings by sewing the newly born lamb in a tightly fitting covering which keeps the fur from being mussed. In the Berlin Zoological Garden there is a very fine four-horned, fat-tailed ram, from the steppes on the lower Volga. From this region come also the large-boned, fat-rumped sheep, which have a large mass of fat on each side of the stunted tail. In the illustration this peculiarity does not show well, on account of the thick winter wool. Their color is red, with dirty white. When Wissman and Bumiller returned from their last expedition, they brought a fine ram of a different breed of fat-rumped sheep, which are raised by the Kirghise, on the Altai Mountains. They are smaller than those from the steppes of the Volga, but have finer wool, and evidently belong to a finer breed. As mutton tallow is very useful, and has been used even from the most ancient times by sheep raisers in the preparation of food, they prize sheep with these masses of fat on the tail and rump, which were purposely developed to the greatest possible degree. FAT-TAILED SHEEP (FOUR-HORNED RAM). FAT-RUMPED SHEEP. The steinbock and the chamois, which live in the highest mountains, are still found, but other breeds, such as the argalis, which inhabited the foot hills and the high table lands, have disappeared, as Europe has become more thickly populated. We know that they formerly lived there, by the fossil remains of the oldest Pliocene in England (Ovis Savinii Newton), of the caves of bones near Stramberg in Moravia (Ovis argaloides Nehring), and of the diluvial strata near Puy-de-Dôme Mountain in the south of France (Ovis antiqua Pommerol). For the above and the accompanying illustrations we are indebted to Daheim. [Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 1172, page 18756.] PATENTS.1 By JAMES W. SEE, Hamilton, Ohio, Member of the Society. EMPLOYERS' RIGHTS.