LECTURE NO. 2. 



ORIGIN OF THE BRITISH BREEDS OF CATTLE. 



I. The precise origin of the British breeds of 

 cattle will probably never be fully known. 



(1) Fossil iferous remains prove that at least some of the 

 present types of cattle have been long in the land. 



(2) Some are of the opinion that they came originally 

 from the continent, when the bed of the English Channel 

 was dry. 



(3) Some regard them as the conglomerate produce of 

 two or more distinctly different species of the genus Bos. 



(4) Others regard them as the differentiated offshoots of 

 one great parent stem. 



II. It is not impossible, nor can it be said to 

 be improbable, that the many and varied breeds of 

 cattle now found in Great Britain came from the 

 one parent stem, the aboriginal cattle of the country. 



(1) Great variations would be induced by locality, and 

 conditions belonging to the same. 



(2) These variations would relate to such properties as 

 production, size, color, form, flesh, milk and maturity. 



(3) They would be increased by fusion with other races 

 of cattle brought into the country through the successive 

 invasions of the Saxons, the Danes and the Normans. 



(4) They would be further intensified by some public and 

 private importations from the continent, in the later centuries. 



III. The principal agencies in producing evo- 

 lution or variation of race and type in cattle are 

 inter-breeding or crossing, climate, food, habit and 

 treatment. 



(1) Inter-breeding or crossing is one of the most potent 

 agents in producing variation, especially as to form. 



(2) Climate affects color, the nature of the coat, develop- 

 ment and maturity. 



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