228 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
plates of the skulls of fossil and existing types of oxen, I cannot 
accept his typical skull of the fossil Bos primigenius as at all 
typical, and his typical skull of the existing type of Bos primigentus 
is undoubtedly more closely related both to the existing and fossil 
types of Owen’s Bos longifrons than to anything else. 
The common idea is that our white cattle is a primeval 
indigenous breed, which lived isolated and preserved in ancient 
impenetrable forests. Consequently Sturtevant writes that “a 
continuous range of enormous forests covered the whole extent of 
the country, while the gigantic and fierce cattle roamed through the 
chase.” Unfortunately for common tradition, cattle could not exist 
in dense forests, as their habitat and feeding-place is in open plains, 
and they seek wood only for shelter. So that the various herds 
of white cattle that have been preserved did not originate in a 
portion of a great forest being enclosed, and these cattle being 
made prisoners within the enclosure. Besides, we have ample 
evidence and proof that in early and medizval times, when all 
land was unenclosed, and herds roamed half wild over the 
country, the prevailing colour was black and red, and not white. 
Runaway cattle from these herds would naturally seek forests and 
woodlands to hide in, and there easily revert to feral conditions. 
But this does not necessarily imply they would become white ; in 
fact, Darwin in his work, Animals and Plants wnder Domestica- 
tion, says that the Spanish and other cattle “which have run 
wild on the Pampas, in Texas, and in two parts of Africa, have 
become of a nearly-uniform dark brownish-red.” Many say that 
the colour of aboriginal cattle was white or yellow, and that 
domesticated cattle in a feral condition revert to this colour, 
quoting Darwin’s remarks on the cattle of the Falkland Islands in 
support of their theory. This theory has also been advanced asa 
proof that our white cattle are the original and indigenous cattle 
of Britain. But what Darwin actually says in his Voyage of the 
Beagle regarding the Falkland Island cattle is that “in colour 
they differ much; and it is a remarkable circumstance that in 
different parts of this one small island different colours predomin- 
ate. Round Mount Usborne, at a height of from 1,000 to 1,500 
feet above the sea, about half of some of the herds are mouse or 
lead coloured, a tint which is not common in the other parts of the 
island, Near Port Pleasant, dark brown prevails, whereas south 
