106 Mr. R. I. Pocock on some 
those breeds claimed to be of partial zebu descent from the 
shape of their horns, great variation in these appendages 1s 
met with. In any considerable herd of “shorthorns” the 
horns may be elevated, depressed, or horizontal; and in 
closely related breeds like the Chartley and Chillingham 
park cattle the horns differ greatly, being long and down- 
turned in the Chartley and shorter and upturned in the 
Chillingham (see Lydekker, pl. iv.). Yet in spite of these 
differences the one breed, I take it, has as much claim as the 
other to be regarded as a pure-bred representative of DB. taurus. 
Apart from the qualification, I entirely agree with Prof. 
Ewart’s dictum (P. Z. 8. 1911, pl. i. p. 272) :-—** Except 
when they curve forwards at right angles to the frontals, as 
in typical Celtic shorthorns, the horns assist but little in 
settling the race to which the Newstead skulls belong.” I 
am not, however, sure whether the term “race” is used in 
this connection to signify artificially formed “breeds” or 
natural “ species” or “ subspecies.” 
Skull.—As stated above, the skulls of typical zebus differ 
from the skulls of European cattle of assumed purity of 
descent from the aurochs in having the frontal region of the 
skull shorter and the naso-maxillary region longer, coupled 
with orbits which are less prominent. . Although importance 
has been attached to these points in the attempt to prove 
specific diversity between the two types, it is surely a matter 
of common knowledge that, in some domesticated mammals 
at least, no part of the skeleton is so plastic and subject to 
such profound variation in structure as the skull. Tus is 
well shown in dogs and almost equally well in cattle. One 
instance only need be cited in support of this statement. 
Speaking of the Niata or Nata breed of La Plata, Darwin 
remarked that ‘on comparison with the skull of a common 
ox, scarcely a single bone [of the skull] presents the same 
exact shape, and the whole skull has a wonderfully different 
appearaice.” It is necdless to mention all the peculiarities 
described by Darwin and Owen, the most remarkable being 
the upward curvature of the jaws, the short broad forehead, 
the extremely abbreviated nasal bones, and the union between 
the premaxille and the lacrymals. These cattle breed true 
to type, and the interesting thing about them is that the 
breed must have originated since 1552, when catt'e were 
first introduced into South America. Here, then, we have a 
clear case of the formation from ordinary European cattle of 
a type differing from them most profoundly in the structure 
of the skull. With this proof of the potential variability of 
the bones of the cranium in European cattle before us, what 
