228 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



plates of the skulls of fossil and existing types of oxen, I cannot 

 accept his typical skull of the fossil Bos 2^^'ijnigenius as at all 

 typical, and his typical skull of the existing type of Bos primigenius 

 is undoubtedly more closelv related both to the existinj: and fossil 

 types of Owen's Bos longifrons than to anything else. 



The common idea is that our white cattle is a primeval 

 indigenous breed, which lived isolated and joreserved in ancient 

 impenetrable forests. Consequently Sturtevant writes that *' a 

 continuous range of enormous forests covered the whole extent of 

 the country, while the gigantic and fierce cattle roamed through the 

 chase." Unfortunately for common tradition, cattle could not exist 

 in dense forests, as their habitat and feeding-place is in open plains, 

 and they seek wood only for shelter. So that the various herds 

 of white cattle that have been preserved did not originate in a 

 portion of a great forest being enclosed, and these cattle being 

 made prisoners watbin the enclosure. Besides, we have ample 

 evidence and proof that in early and mediaeval times, when all 

 land was unenclosed, and herds roamed half wild over the 

 country, the prevailing colour was black and red, and not white. 

 Runaway cattle from these herds would naturally seek forests and 

 woodlands to hide in, and there easilv revert to feral conditions. 

 But this does not necessarily imply they would become white ; in 

 fact, Darwin in his work. Animals and Plants under Domestica- 

 tion, says that the Spanish and other cattle " which have run 

 wild on the Pampas, in Texas, and in two parts of Africa, have 

 become of a nearly-uniform dark brownish-red." Many say that 

 the colour of aboriginal cattle was white or yellow, and that 

 domesticated cattle in a feral condition revert to this colour, 

 quoting Darwin's remarks on the cattle of the Falkland Islands in 

 support of their theory. This theory has also been advanced as a 

 proof that our white cattle are the original and indigenous cattle 

 of Britain. But what Darwin actually says in his Voyage of the 

 Beagle regarding the Falkland Island cattle is that "in colour 

 they differ much ; and it is a remarkable circumstance that in 

 different parts of this one small island different colours predomin- 

 ate. Round Mount Usborne, at a height of from 1,000 to 1,500 

 feet above the sea, about half of some of the herds are mouse or 

 lead coloured, a tint which is not common in the other parts of the 

 island. Near Port Pleasant, dark brown prevails, whereas south 



