GOATS. — PIGS 



ultimate development of the animals, and where artificial rearing is jirac- 

 ti?ed winter calving is certainlv more economical, for bj' feeding skim milk 

 and a fat substitute the calves got on very well till the spring when they 

 were old enough to take full advantage of the grass ; and when they were 

 brought in the following winter, the winter calves had a big start over the 

 summer ones and were able to be put at once on to a more economical 

 ration. 



1300 ~ Capra prisca an Unknown and Extinct Race of the European Domes- 

 ticated Goat. — Adametz, in Miiteilungen der landw. Lehrkanzeli. der K. K. Hochschulc 

 iilr Bodcnktdtttr in Wien, Vol. 3, No. i, pp. 1-21. Vienna, 1015. 



In 1 91 3, a portion of fairly well preserved skull belonging to a fossil 

 goat was received for examination from Prof. Ed. von Lup.icz Vterzati- 

 TO'Si SKI. It had been found together with two other similar skulls and the 

 remains of a horse's skull when laying a water main at Iloczow in Eastern 

 Galicia, at a depth of 15 ft. from the surface. A careful study of the skull 

 showed that it belonged to a well defined extinct species of wild goat 

 which was given the name of Capri prisca n. sp. 



Up to the present it has been considered that the different varieties 

 of the Euroi:)ean domesticated goat are all descended from a common 

 ancestor which is still represented by the Bezoar wild goat (C. aegagrns) ; 

 and the fact that the position and conformation of the horns and rudimen- 

 tary- horns in the domesticated goats differ markedly from those of the 

 wild goat has been attributed to somatic variation or mutation. When the 

 skulls of C. aegagnis and of its sub-species the Cretan goat (C. aegagrus 

 cretensis) and the wild goat of the Island of Eriniomilos (C. aegagrus pictus) 

 were compared with the skull of C. prisca the conformation of the chief 

 bones was found to be different. But on the other hand the conformation 

 of the skull of C. prisca was absolutely identical with that of the so-called 

 Jura wild goat (C. dorcas Reichw, or C. Iiircus dorcas according to de 

 LoRKNZ-LiBUKNAi' who proved it to be merely a goat reverted to the wild 

 state), and very similar to that of the majority of the European domesti- 

 cated breeds, in particular the goats of Bosnia-Herzegovina, of Serbia and 

 of Albania. 



It would therefore seem that the hypothesis of the Bezoar goat as 

 sole ancestor of the European domesticated breeds is untenable, as most 

 of the latter are more probably derived fioni C. prisca. Some breeds however, 

 such as for instance the old Alpine breed of Salzburg, are just as clearly 

 related to C. aegagrus. 



The writer is proceeding with a thorough examination of all avail- 

 able prehistoric material in the light of this latest discovery. 



1301 - Fish Meal as Food for Pigs. — Ckowther C, in The journal of the Board of .i'^ri- 

 citlture, Vol. XXIII, No. i, pp. 27-33. lyOnilon, April i(>i6. 



At the Experimental Farm of the University of Leeds (Garforth) 

 feeding trials were carried out to test the value of fish meal as food for pigs. 

 Twelve large white pigs ranging in age from 13 to 21 weeks were divided 

 into two lots as evenly as possible, each lot consisting of 3 castrated hogs 



