140 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
northern climate. He believed that ‘‘a cross with Gallo- 
ways would produce the handsomest robe ever handled, 
and make the best range cattle in the world.” 
The experiments of Messrs. Bedson, Jones, Goodnight, 
and other workers conclusively demonstrated the following 
facts: That the buffalo bull crosses readily with the domes- 
tic cow, which produces a half-breed calf successfully, but 
the buffalo cow has not been known to produce a half- 
breed calf; that the progeny of the two species is fertile to 
any extent, yielding half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter 
breeds and so on; that the hybrids display all the desirable 
qualities of the buffalo as regards ability to withstand ex- 
posure, etc., and, finally, that the buffalo will breed suc- 
cessfully and regularly in captivity. 
In order to determine to what extent practical use can 
be made of the crosses between the buffaloes and domestic 
cattle, the Dominion Department of Agriculture in 1915 
purchased a herd of “‘cattalos,” as the hybrids are called, 
from the herd which was developed by the late Mossom 
Boyd on his Big Island stock farm at Bobcaygeon, On- 
tario. An account of the purchase of this herd and the 
character of the experimental work that is now being under- 
taken by the Division of Animal Husbandry of the Do- 
minion Experimental Farms, under the direction of Mr. 
Archibald, the director, was published in The Agricultural 
Gazette of Canada for March, 1916, from which the follow- 
ing statement is taken: 
The experiment carried on by the late Mossom Boyd was commenced 
in 1894 and continued until the time of his death, some two years ago. 
At the outset cows of various breeds and crosses were used. Some of 
these failed to produce and, after several years of experiment, all but 
grades of the Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford were discontinued. The 
resulting herd, therefore, possess the thick form of these beef breeds and 
a modification of the hump and depth of rib peculiar to the buffalo. 
In the early stages of the experiment, sterility was a dominating ob- 
stacle to progress, more particularly with the initial cross. With the 
