20 EVOLUTION OF BRITISH CATTLE 



writes^ that "This small but ancient species or 

 variety of ox belongs, like our present cattle, to 

 the subgenus Bos, as is shown by the form of the 

 forehead, and by the origin of the horns from 

 the extremities of the occipital ridge ; but it 

 differs from the contemporary Bos primigenius^ 

 not only by its great inferiority of size, being 

 smaller than the ordinary breeds of domestic 

 cattle, but also by the horns being proportionally 



BOS LONGIFRONS, FROM IRELAND. 



\From Owen, 



much smaller and shorter, as well as differently 

 directed, and by the forehead being less concave. 

 It is indeed, usually flat ; and the frontal bones 

 extend further beyond the orbits, before they join 

 the nasal bones, than in Bos primigenius. The 

 horn-cores of the Bos longifrons describe a single 

 short curve outwards and forwards in the plane of 

 the forehead, rarely rising above that plane, more 

 rarely sinking below it : the cores have a very 

 rugged exterior, and are usually a little flattened 

 1 " British Fossil Mammals and Birds," p. 5 10. 



