the earth have been reduced by Cuvier to three, or at most four, species: the _Ovis Amman_, or the Argali, the presumed parent stock of all the rest; the _Ovis Tragelaphus_, the bearded sheep of Africa; the _Ovis Musmon_, the Musmon of Southern Europe; and the _Ovis Montana_, the Mouflon of America; though it is believed by many naturalists that this last is so nearly identical with the Indian Argali as to be undeserving a separate place. It is still a controversy to which of these three we are indebted for the many breeds of modern domestication; the Argali, however, by general belief, has been considered as the most _probable_ progenitor of the present varieties.