682 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



In the Otago Witness of the 17th November, 1898, page 6, 

 is an article on the " Wild White Cattle of Europe," which is 

 very suggestive from the above point of view, because it points 

 out their great antiquity and wide distribution in the countries 

 most liable to cattle disease ; and in one sentence it says, 

 " Why a wild race of cattle could not be of a white colour no 

 explanation is given." Professor Boyd Dawkins said " their 

 white colour was fatal to the idea that they were a pure wild 

 breed." Thus he evidently thought that colour was only for 

 protection, and gave no indication of constitutional differences. 

 But those white cattle, or many of them, may have been proof 

 against some fatal disease in that great extent of country 

 which includes all the nations of Europe, and that may be 

 the very reason of their wide distribution and long existence ; 

 and they may still be the fittest to survive all the diseases 

 native to their country, even tuberculosis. 



This suggests that the colour of those not taking sick in 

 epidemics should be carefully noted and fostered, instead of 

 adopting fancy colours in an arbitrary way, without rhyme or 

 reason for them. There are often vagaries of colour amongst 

 many animals, such as black sheep, black rabbits, yellow 

 rabbits, piebald horses, &c., which we might make use of 

 from the above point of view. The piebald horse might be 

 the germ of the zebra's constitution if some one could only 

 live long enough to work it up and make use of it in that 

 country — that is, if experiments showed it to be hopeful. 



In the cases of dogs and cats, where only a portion of the 

 litters are reared, the constitutions that may happen to vary 

 in the proof direction will survive if left to themselves, and 

 that may be what causes the uniformity of colour in the wild 

 animals, while we, in picking out the ones to save, may choose 

 the very worst ones for the sake of some whimsical colour, 

 and that is evidently why our tame animals are of so many 

 different colours. 



We test horses by racing and working them, and we breed 

 from the best ; but we have no constitutional test for cows, 

 and it is therefore no wonder that they are subject to all sorts 

 of ailments. A system open to severe correction by some 

 epidemic like pleuro-pneumonia Vt-ill leave the proof con- 

 stitutions and give us a fresh start again. I remember when 

 pleuro-pneumonia went through Victoria, and took about 

 70 per cent, of the cattle from the small farmers in the 

 western district, and ruined many that previously thought 

 themselves independent. 



If colour does indicate constitution, even in a small way, 

 the best individuals could often be saved and the others killed 

 for beef, so that it would be of very great value to breeders if 

 always kept in view. The colour of the American buffaloes, 



