96 CATTLE. Chap. III. 



in the hides of the cattle reared on the bleak Falkland Islands 

 and on the temperate Pampas. Low has remarked 70 that the 

 cattle which inhabit the more humid parts of Britain have 

 longer hair and thicker skins than other British cattle. 

 "When we compare highly improved stall-fed cattle with the 

 wilder breeds, or compare mountain and lowland breeds, wo 

 cannot doubt that an active life, leading to the free use of 

 the limbs and lungs, affects the shape and proportions of the 

 whole body. It is probable that some breeds, such as the semi- 

 monstrous niata cattle, and some peculiarities, such as being 

 hornless, &c, have appeared suddenly owing to what we may 

 call in our ignorance spontaneous variation ; but even in this 

 case a rude kind of selection is necessary, and the animals 

 thus characterized must be at least partially separated from 

 others. This degree of care, however, has sometimes been 

 taken even in little-civilized districts, where we should least 

 have expected it, as in the case of the niata, chivo, and horn- 

 less cattle in S. America. 



That methodical selection has done wonders within a recent 

 period in modifying our cattle, no one doubts. During the 

 process of methodical selection it has occasionally happened that 

 deviations of structure, more strongly pronounced than mere 

 individual differences, yet by no means deserving to be called 

 monstrosities, have been taken advantage of: thus the famous 

 Long-horn Bull, Shakespeare, though of the pure Canley 

 stock, " scarcely inherited a single point of the long-horned 

 breed, his horns excepted ; n yet in the hands of Mr. Fowler, 

 this bull greatly improved his race. We have also reason to 

 believe that selection, carried on so far unconsciously that there 

 was at no one time any distinct intention to improve or change 

 the breed, has in the course of time modified most of our 

 cattle ; for by this process, aided by more abundant food, all the 

 lowland British breeds have increased greatly in size and in 

 early maturity since the reign of Henry VII. 72 It should 

 never be forgotten that many animals have to be annually 



