222 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
that there have been from time to time infusions of fresh blood 
into the herd, and that their so-called wild habits are mainly the 
result of their treatment for centuries.” 
Such, then, are the conclusions that have already been placed 
before the Society. With the Cadzow herd I shall deal later, 
when inquiring into the history of various herds of white cattle in 
Britain. J may here say that Martin, writing in 1852 about “the 
semi-wild cattle of Chatelherault Park, Lancashire [sic], belonging 
to the Duke of Hamilton,” says, ‘these feral cattle are larger and 
more robust than the Chillingham . . . The cows, and also 
the bulls, are generally polled or hornless.” Thus, 50 years ago, 
these cattle were regarded as feral. Personally, I hold the same 
opinion of these white cattle as Messrs. Alston and Turner; but 
I go a step further, and I think I will be able to show that these 
cattle are simply the descendants of Roman cattle imported into 
the country during the Roman occupation. This is the view held 
by Professor Hughes, the Woodwardian. Professor of Geology at 
Cambridge (Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc. England, 1894, Vol. V., 
3rd Series, Pt. IIJ.— Archeologia, 1894-5, Vol. LV., pp. 
125-158), and Mr. Lydekker, the well-known authority on 
Mammalia. I consider that we can even trace their origin to 
one or twosources. They come either from white cattle imported 
for sacrificial purposes, which, being scarce, were much prized and 
carefully protected (they would be the ‘clean oxen,” or oxen 
chosen for sacrifice, which often had to be entirely free from black 
spots or even a single black hair); or from collections of white 
calves, which, being dropped by dark-coloured cattle, were re- 
garded in the Roman period as a portent of good to the individual 
or state, as the case might be, and were therefore looked upon as of 
much value and preserved. They may come simply from the 
large whitish domestic cattle, common in the Roman period, 
and preserved in Britain simply because they were large. This 
large white breed even now exists in Italy, Hungary, and 
Roumania, and such an animal, when compared with the in- 
digenous cattle, as represented by the Kerry cattle for example, 
would no doubt appeal to the business instincts of our cattle- 
breeding forefathers. 
While placing these points before the Society, I cannot lay 
claim to originality. Many of them were advanced over fifty years 
é 0) ee 
