Domesticated Breeds 17 



must start in all our speculations as to the origin and development of 

 British oxen. The Romans found that breed here, and no other." 



We have next to inquire what was the origin of this so-called Bos 

 long'ifrons^ or Celtic short-horn, as it is often called ? On this subject 

 Professor Hughes writes that '^ before the Unis had disappeared the native 

 short-horn Bos bnichyccrus, or longifroiis, had arrived in Britain." Doubt- 

 less it had, but whence came it, and what was its parent form .? Professor 

 Rlitimeyer considered that the Celtic short-horn was a stunted form of the 

 aurochs, and that it existed only as a domestic race. On the other hand. 

 Professor Hughes observes : " It is difficult to believe that all the scattered 

 and associated bones of Bos longifroiis which we find in the fens along with 

 the remains of the beaver, the wolf, and the red deer, are those of domestic 

 animals. They may, of course, be those of domestic cattle run wild ; but 

 if Bos longifrons was not indigenous, it must have been introduced by man 

 into this country at a very remote period. At any rate, from its presence 

 in such great numbers in pre-Roman and Roman times, as proved by 

 excavations, we must admit a strong probability that some of our recent 

 domestic breeds must have been derived from it." The latter sentence may 

 be accepted as perfectly true ; but where, it may be asked, is the Celtic short- 

 horn — whether a wild or a domesticated animal — supposed to have come 

 from } If not separately created, it must assuredly have originated from 

 the aurochs, for there is no other earlier form to which its pedigree 

 can probably be traced. The great fallacy in all the above is, of course, 

 the recognition of the Celtic short-horn as a distinct species. It is, and 

 can be, nothing but a variety of Bos tai/riis, and Rutimeyer's idea that 

 it is a stunted domesticated race of the aurochs is almost certainly true. 

 And it thus seems impossible to accept the statement that, if the aurochs 

 " has left its mark in any domestic cattle in the British Isles, it can only be 

 through the long-horned German cattle." 



In the memoir cited much stress is laid on the difference in the curva- 



D 



