WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 247 



breed modified and improved. The horn cores of this new breed 

 have a tendency outward and upward, instead of the strong 

 forward curve oi Bos longifro7is. Of this breed, Professor Hughes 

 states, all intermediate sizes and shapes are found, from the small 

 native to the bigger new improved. And the last is the Roman 

 breed, with lyre-shaped horns, and agreeing with the type of 

 animal represented on paintings, sculpture, and coins of ancient 

 Rome. 



We now turn to Rome to see what was the colour and origin 

 of her cattle. Italy, as Boeotia, is probably the country of oxen. 



Fig. 19. — Pugliesi Cattle — Prize Bull. From Days spent on a Doge's Farm. 



Oxen were in such great demand amongst the Romans that Hesiod 

 tells us " before all things we should have a house, a wife, and a 

 ploughing ox." Some classical authors in their description of 

 cattle seem to indicate the droop or curvature of horns peculiar to 

 the Bos primigenius. Herodotus, describing the cattle of the 

 Lotophagi, says, " amongst them the kine that feed backwards are 

 met with ; thev feed backwards for this reason, thev have horns 

 that are bent forward, therefore they draw back as they feed, 

 for thev are unable to go forward because their horns would stick 

 in the ground. They differ from other kine in no other respect 



