24 MAMMALIA. PECORA. Bos. 



cap. 3.), about which period it probably became extinct, although the credu- 

 lous Boece states that they were found in plenty so late as the 15th century. 

 It was termed by the Welsh in the 9th century (" Leges Wallicse," iii. 11. 12.) 

 Llosdlydan, and in the Gaelic it is still termed, from tradition, Losleathen. See 

 Mr Neill's valuable " Account of some fossil remains of the Beaver found in 

 Perthshire and Berwickshire," Wern. Mem. iii. p. 207. The bones of this 

 species occur in beds of marl under peat-moss, as quoted by Mr Neill ; and 

 in Berkshire, Phil. Trans. 1757, p. 112. 



The Guinea pig (Cavia Cobai/a), has been domesticated in the belief that 

 its smell will expel rats. It is a native of Brazil, and may be regarded as a 

 useless addition to our stock of quadrupeds. 



PECORA. 



I. Horns permanent, Jiirnished internally with an osseous 



core. 



Gen. XXII. BOS. Ox. — Horns lateral at their origin, but 

 afterwards reciuved, smooth. 



36. B. Taurus. Common Ox. — Front flat, longer than 

 broad. Horns proceeding from the extremities of the occipital 

 ridge. 



The cow goes with yovuig nine months, and is capable of breeding the se- 

 cond year. Milk teeth begin to shed about the tenth month. Numerous va- 

 rieties exist at present in a domesticated state, differing in colour and shape, 

 and in the form or absence of their horrs. Those in the more fertile districts 

 are the largest ; those frequenting mountainous disti'icls with scanty pastures 

 are the smallest, with the fore-quarters proportionally larger, as in Zetland. 



Several varieties, if not species, of oxen appear to have occupied the Bri- 

 tish Island, in a wild state, at no very remote period. Lesley (" De Origine, 

 moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum," Home 1G78) mentions herds of" V^accee 

 non cicures" (p. 10.), which frequented the mountainous districts of Argyle 

 and Ross. These probably were the parent stock of our domesticated varie- 

 ties, which, with but little care, are reared in the remoter districts. 



The " boves sylvestres''' of Lesley (p. 19.), which were of a white colour, pos- 

 sessed, as he states, " jubam densam, ac dimissam instar leonis ;" while Su- 

 Robert Sibbald says, that, in his day, they did not differ in form from the 

 common kind. The remains, however, of this white breed, with the muzzle 

 and ears black, may be found mixed occasionally in our domestic kind. In a 

 pure state, they are preserved in the parks of a few of the nobility. The 

 remains of oxen, which occur in marl-pits in this country, seem all to belong 

 to the species taunts. Man}' of the skulls, however, exhibit dimensions su- 

 perior to those of the largest domesticated kinds. A skuU in my possession 

 measures 27g inches in length, 9 inches between the horns, and 11^ inches 

 across at the orbits. 



The manes, which several authors state to have characterised the wild oxen 

 of this country, and their remarkable ferocity, probably had a reference to 

 the Bos Urus, a species once indigenous, as attested by the occurrence of its 

 remains in the recent strata. A skull of this species, found by iMr "Warbur- 

 ton, at Walton in Essex, forms a part of the Collection of the Cieological So- 

 ciety of London, and another skull found at Woolwich, exists in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. This sj)ecies differs remai'kably 

 from the Bos Taurus, in the front being s^^•ollen, broader than lonn", the horns 



