292 Mr. J. W. Jackson on Degeneration in 



Mr. R. Lydekker, in ' Science Progress,' vol. vi. 1912, 

 p. 556, criticizes the above conclusion, stating, "the alleged 

 absence of the anterior premolar is probably a feature due to 

 domestication." 



Amongst jilmost any collection of oxen-remains from 

 Romano-British stations tiiis five-toothed form is to be found, 

 though it is often passed unnoticed if the jaws happen to be 

 imperfect. 



I have met with it on several occasions, and specimens 

 may be seen in the Manchester Museum from the Wirral sub- 

 merged forest, the peat of Cambridge, alluvium near (Jnstle- 

 ton, Derbyshire, burial mounds, Rudston, Yorks (? Bronze 

 Aa;e\ a wolf-den (pre-Sixteenth Century) at Haverbrack, 

 Westmorland, and Dog Holes cave on Warton Crag, Lanes 

 (Romano-British). The Cambridge, Rudston, and Haver- 

 brack examples illustrate the feature in both right and left 

 jaws : the otlier specimens are odd jaws. 



At Dog Holes normal jaws of small oxen were also found 

 at a lower horizon, i.e. Neolithic, and on comparing two six- 

 toothed jaws from this cave, one Neolithic and the other 

 Romano-British, it is observed that the relative proportions 

 of the molars and premolars in each jaw are different. 

 While the molars of the later (Romano-British) jaw are 

 only slightly shorter than those in the earlier jaw, the pre- 

 molars, especially ^^2, show a much greater decrease in 

 length. For example, ^j^ in the Romano-British jaw is 

 more than one-fourth less in length than the same tooth in 

 the Neolithic jaw, wliile i^^ is only about an eighth less. 

 The annexed table of measurements will sliow this more 

 clearly : — 



Pm. 2. Pm A- Pm. 4. M. 1- M. 2- M. 3. 



mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. 



Neolithic 13-3x9-7 19x12-5 21-5xl4-3 24-2xl5-5 26-3xl5-5 37-3xl5- 



Bomano-Britisb. 98x8 15-7 x 104 19-3x11 21-1x12-6 23-6x13-1 34-4x12- 



% of decrease . . -263 x -175 -184 x '168 -102 x "230 -128 x '187 -102 x -154 -077 x '18 



It will be noticed that pt^n does not show this decrease so 

 much in the leno-th as in the breadth. 



Having had the opportunity of going through the animal- 

 remains from the Glastonbury Lake Village, preparatory to 

 writing a full report on them in collaboration witli Prof. W. 

 Boyd Dawkins, I carefully looked for any trace of the 

 above five-toothed form, and was surprised to find it so much 

 in evidence. The series, moreover, provided specimens of 



