260 NOTE ON BOS LONGIFRONS. 
sometimes associated with Roman antiquities, sometimes 
with the great Irish Elk, or even with the much earlier 
extinct Carnivora. Although once so common, this Ox 
does not appear to have been the ancestor of our present 
breeds of cattle. Owen has suggested that the Romans 
imported an already domesticated breed, thinking this an 
easier process than to tame afresh the wild indigenous race. 
Bos longrifrons was a smaller animal than the present 
domesticated ox, and may possibly be the ancestor of the 
small dark breeds of Wales and Scotland. It must not be 
comfounded with the great wild ox of this country, the 
Urus of Cesar (Bos primigenius), which was almost cer- 
tainly extinct, at all events in the Southern portions of 
these islands in pre-historic times. This latter is considered 
by some to be the ancestor, by crossing with domesticated 
cattle, of the Chillingham and Chartley breeds of wild white 
cattle. 
Those who have been in Dublin may remember that the 
Rotunda is ornamented on the outside with a ring of the 
skulls of Bos longifrons sculptured in stone. 
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