WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN. ETC. 



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not yet been proved to have existed alongside with these extinct 

 Pleistocene mammalia. We mav sav. so far, that, of the genus 

 Bos, the species Bos priniigenius existed in the Pleistocene, the 

 species represented by the Urus of Caesar and the Celtic Shorthorn of 

 Owen existed in the prehistoric period, and species of taurus from 

 one or both of these may now be livina:. Our latest authoritv on 

 the Bovidse — MiddendorfF — savs that there are two chief races of 

 European oxen, both of Avhich are varieties of Bos taurus, viz., 

 (1) a lowland race {Bos taurus primigenius), to which belong the 

 cattle of Western Europe. Russia, and the Steppes, as well as 



Fig. 7. — The Urus (after Gesner, 1551). 



those of the primitive forest regions ; (2) a highland race (Bos 

 taurus brachyceros), which has given origin to the cattle of 

 Southern Europe and probably of North Africa. In Britain we 

 are only concerned with Bos ^;r2?7ii^enuts and Bos longifrons. 

 The Bison is found with us in river gravels. This species 

 apparently lasted through the time when man used rough 

 unpolished stone implements, but has not been found in Britain 

 with the remains of the men of the Polished Stone Age. The 



