218 WILD WHITE CATTLE. 
that a principal element in the food of these people 
was milk, and therefore they could not afford to keep 
the calves, which must have consumed a large por- 
tion of what would otherwise have been available for 
the use of the household.* 
But to return to Bos primigenius. While such 
authorities as Professors Riitimeyer and Nilsson, 
Sir Charles Lyell, Professor Boyd Dawkins,t and 
Mr. Darwin are inclined to believe that our wild white 
cattle are descended from the Urus in one or other of 
the two ways above indicated, Professor Owen and Dr. 
J. A. Smith (whose excellent ‘‘ Notes on the Ancient 
Cattle of Scotland” are apparently less known than 
they deserve to bef) hold a different view, and con- 
sider that Bos primigenius became extinct throughout 
the whole island in pre-historic times. There seems to 
be much probability, though it can scarcely be con- 
sidered proved, that such was the case iz the southern 
parts of Britain; but, as Mr. Storer in his lately 
published work has pointed out,§ it has yet to be shown 
that in the northern parts the same rule prevailed, 
the Caledonian deposits especially (partly perhaps from 
their remote positions) having in but few instances 
been examined with that consummate skill, care, and 
attention which southern discoveries have received. 
* Greenwell, ‘Grimes Graves,’ “Journ. Eth. Soc.,’’vol. ii. p.431 (1871). 
t+ Professor Boyd Dawkins once thought the Urus might have sur- 
vived in Britain within historic times in some of the wilder parts of 
the country,(“Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,” 1866, p. 397), but subsequently 
altered his opinion (‘ Trans. Internat. Congress, Preehist. Archzol.,” 
1868, pp. 269-289.) 
£ See “Pro. Soc. Antiq. Scotl.,” vol. ix. p. 587. 
§ “The Wild White Cattle of Great Britain.” 
