From J. V. Carus   20 November 1871

My dear Sir,

The breeder of our oldest herd of Merino sheep (bred a hundred years without introducing foreign blood)¹ writes me, that “after the castration of the male lambs, which takes place about 6 weeks after the birth, the development of the horns is checked, the castrated rams have horns, but always smaller and feebly developed ones.”

The second breeder writes: “My herd is an original one, descended also directly through the female line from the spanish sheep introduced within the last quarter of past century (Merino).— Castrated male animals have horns, which are developed in much smaller dimensions, about of the size of the horns of the female sheep. If the castration is effected very early, the horns remain almost undeveloped.”²

I translate as litterally as possible. It seems partly to depend on the time of the castration. “Almost undeveloped” is pretty well the same as “rudimentary”. But it is only stated, when the castration has been made very early. For the general case seems to be, that the development of the horns is checked, that is horns are reduced in size.

Don’t trouble yourself with marking the corrected passages. Send the proofs as they are.³

Many thanks for your kind information about the goat-sheep (as C. Vogt calls them). The quotation of Chevreul is quite right: Botanique. It is a paper on species, varieties, races.” He refers to a a communication (as it seems an oral one) from Mr Gay.⁴

With my best wishes I am | My dear Sir | Yours most sincerely | J. Victor Carus