OCR Text |
Show 80 CATTLE. CIIAP. III. of one or two h umps, m. length of horns, and odth er dr eshp ects. MI. Blyth sums up emphatically that the hum~e an umpless. cattle must be considered as di stm· c t specie s. When .w e consi' d er th e num ber of points in external st.r uctur.e£ l'a nd habit•s , , independently of their important osteological diuerences, m which they differ from each other ; and that ma:qy o~ t~ese . t l'k 1 to have been affected by domestiCatiOn, phomts are nho dli e bye a doubt notwithstanding the adverse t ~re can ar Y ' h d opinion of some naturalists, that the l~u~ped and non- umpe cattle must be ranked as specifically distmct. The European breeds of humpless cattle are numero~s. Professor Low enumerates 19 British breeds, only a few of whiCh are identical with those on the Continent. Even the sma~l Channel islands of Guernsey, J ersey, and Alderney, possess their 0 Wn sub-breeds· 34 and these again differ from the cattle of the other British isl' ands, such as Anglesea, and tho wester~ I. Sl es of Scotland. Desmarest, who paid attention to the subject, describes 15 French races, excluding sub-varieties and those imported from other countries. In other parts of Europe th~re are several distinct races, such as the pale-coloured Hunganan cattle, with their light and free step, and their enormous horns sometimes measuring above .five feet from tip to tip: 35 the Podolian cattle are remarkable from the height of their fore-quarters. In the most recent work on aa ttl e, 36 engravm• gs are given of fifty-five European breeds; it is, however, probable that several of these differ very little from each other, or are merely synonyms. It must not be supposed that numerous breeds of cattle exist only in long-civilized countries, for we shall presently see that several kinds are kept by the savages of Southern Mrica. With respect to the parentage of the several European breeds, we already know much from Nilsson's Memo:iJ.}7 and moro especially from RUtimcyer's 'Pfahlbauten' and succeeding works. Two or three species or forms of B4 Mr. H. E. Marquand, in ' The Times,' Juno 23rd, 1856. 3.5 Vasey, 'Delineations of the OxTribe,' p.124. Brace's' Hungary,'1851, p. 94. The Hungarian cattle descend, according to Riitimeyer (' Zahmen. Europ. Rindes., 186G, a. 13), from Bos primigenius. sG Moll and Gayot, ' La Connaissance Gen. du Brouf,' Paris, 1860. Fig 82 is that of tho Podolian breed. a7 A translation appeared in three parts in the 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 2nd series, vol. iv., 1849. CHAP. III. TIIEIR PARENTAGE. 81 Bos, closely allied to still living domestic races, have been found fossil in the mo1·c recent tertiary deposits of Europe. Following Riitimcycr, we have:- Bos primi,qeni11s.-Tms magnificent, well-known species was domesticated in Switzerland during the Neolithic period; even at this early period it varied a little, having apparently been crossed with other races. Some of tho larger races on tho Continent, as the Friesland, &c., and the Pembroke raco in England, closely resemble in essential structure JJ. primi, qenius, and no doubt arc its descendants. This is likewise the opinion of Nilsson. Bos pr·im~r;enius existed as a wild animal in Cresar's time, and is now semi-wild, though much degenerated in sizo, in the park of Chi llingham; for I am informed by Professor Rutimcyer, to whom Lord Tankerville sent a skull, that the Chillingham cattle are loss altered from the true primigcnius type than any other lmown brced.38 JJos tr·ochoceros.-This form is not included in the three species above mentioned, for it is now considered by Rutimcycr to be the female of an early domesticated form of JJ. primigenius, and as the progenitor of his j?'outo.sus race. I may add that specific names have been given to fom other fossil oxen, now believed to be identical with B. primigenius.39 Bos long(j?·ons (or bmchyceros) of Owcn.-This very distinct species was of small size, and had a short body with fino legs. It has been found in England associated with the remains of tho elephant and rhinocCl'os.'10 It was the commonest form in a domesticated condition in Switzerland during the earliest part of the Neolithic period. It wa.s domesticated in England during the lloman period, and supplied food to the Roman lcgionaries.41 Some remains have been found in Ireland in certain crannogc , of whlch the dates aro believed to be from 843-933 A.D. 42 Professor Owen 43 thinks it probable that tho W clsh and Highland cattle arc descended from this form; as likewise is the case, according to Rlitimcyer, with some of tho existing Swiss breeds. These latter arc of different shades of colour from light-grey to blackish-brown, with a lighter stripe along the spine, but tl10y havo no p1uc white marks. The cattle of North Wales and the Highlands, on the other hand, arc generally black or dark-coloured. JJos jTontosus of Nil son.-This species is allied to B.longij1·ons, but in the opinion of some good judges is distinct from it. Both co-existed in Scania during the samo late geological pcriod,44 and both have been fo1md in the Irish crannogcs.45 Nilsson believes that his B. frontosus may be the 33 See, also, Ri.itimcycr's 'Beitrage pal. Gescb. dcr Wiederkauer,' Basel, 1865, s. 54. 39 Pictct's 'Paleontologie,' tom. i. p. RG5 (2nd edit.). With respect to B. trochoccros, see Riitimcyer's • Zahmen Europ. Rindcs,' 1866, s. 2G. 40 Owen, 'British Fossil Mammals,' 184G, p. 510. 41 'British Pleistocene Mammalia,' by W. B. Dawkins and W. A. Sandford, 18GG, p. XV. VOL. I. 42 W. R. Wilde, • An Essay on the Animal Remains, &c., Royal Irish Academy,' 1860, p. 29. Also 'PJ'Oc. of R. Irish Academy,' 1858, p. 48. 43 'Lecture: Royal Institution of G. Britain,' May 2nd, 1856, p. 4. 'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 513. 44 Nilsson, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. llist.,' 1849, vol. iv. p. 354. 4 • See ·w. R. Wilde, ut supra; and Mr. Blyth, in 'Proc. Irish Academy,' March 5th, 1864. G |