Ovid

PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO, (ov'id,) a Roman poet, B. at Sulmona, 43 B. c., filled several civil and judicial offices at Rome, among others that of Decemvir, and enjoyed the favor of the emperor August us. In 8 A. D. hewas banished, on account, it is said, of his having written the erotic poem called The Art of Love, and D. at Tomi in 18. His reputation rests on his Metamorphoses ("Metamorphose on Libri XV. "), a work of great power and standard merit. (o-ve-a'do,) a city of Spain, C. of a northern and mountainous p. of same name (the ancient Asturias), is situate at the confluence of the Nora and Ovia rivers, 60 m. N.W. of Leon. Pop. 29,424. (o'vin-e.) (Zool.) A group of the fam Cavicorn i a, comprising the Sheep and Goats, and characterized by horns more or le angular and compre ed, usually twisted and curved backwards, wrinkled, and generally dull yellowish-brown. The muzzle is broader than in the Antelopes, generally hairy, and with a shallow groove. (o'vis.) (Zool.) The Sheep, a gen. of ruminant quadrupeds, group Ovinæ, and differing so slightly in the anatomical structure from the Goat, that both Fig. 513.-MOUNTAIN SHEEP, OR BIG HORN. some naturalists united. The principal consist in the Sheep having no beard; in the horns being directed backwards, and then inclining spirally more or le forwards; in having a convex forehead; and in the existence of a sac or fo a, situated at the base of the toes, lined with hair, and furnished with sebaceous follicles. The Mountain Sheep, or Big Horn, O. montana (Fig. 513) of the Rocky Mountains, which by Cuvier is considered identical with the Algali of Siberia, O. ammon, is much larger than the domestic sheep, with very large horns. The female has smaller horns similar to those of the goat. A large individual of this species weighs abt. 350 pounds. The Moufflon of Sardinia, O. mu simon, differs in being smaller. It is from the Moufflon and Algali that our numerous domestic varieties are supposed to have sprung. Of these the Merino from Spain isone of the most noted, on account of the length and the finene of its wool. In 1870, there were 22,471,275 domestic sheep in the United States. [s. 673] IMG:p0718_0.jpg:Gravür