o 



{Authors arc responsible for nomenclature uscd.)f-^-^ '^ .^^.^^te- 



The Scottish NaturaHst 



Nos. loi AND I02.] 1920 [May-June. 



DISCOVERY OF HORN - SHEATH OF THE PRE- 

 HISTORIC CELTIC SHORTHORN OX IN 

 PEEBLESSHIRE. 



By James Ritchie, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.E. 



The Celtic Shorthorn was the primitive domesticated ox of 

 the Neolithic people who migrated into Scotland towards 

 the close of the period when the mass of our peat-bogs was 

 forming. Probably the comparatively late advent of a race 

 of cattle hitherto unknown in Caledonia is accountable for 

 the remarkably few relics of the Celtic Shorthorn which have 

 been recovered from the peat-bogs, for in number they 

 compare poorly with the remains of the native cattle, the 

 long-extinct Giant Ox {Bos taurus priniigenius). Neverthe- 

 less, later deposits in Scotland have supplied long series of 

 skeletal remains of the Celtic Shorthorn {Bos taurus longifrons 

 of Owen), so that its characters are well established. The 

 skull is especially characteristic, having a broad forehead 

 surmounted by a bony crest and carrying short, rugged horn- 

 cores which lie almost in the plane of the forehead and are 

 directed outwards and slightly forwards. But while the horn- 

 cores are often found, the horns themselves are of great rarity, 

 for, unlike the solidly attached horn-cores, the loose horny- 

 sheaths are apt to become detached from the skull, and their 

 fibrous layered structure causes them readily to split up and 

 disintegrate under the action of moisture. A pair of horn- 

 lOl AND 1 02 I 



