106 ^h\ 11. I. Pocock on some 



those breeds claimed to be of partial zebu descent from the 

 shape of their lioriis, great variation in these appendages is 

 met with. In any considerable herd of '' shorthorns " tlie 

 horns may be elevated, depressed, or horizontal ; and in 

 closely related breeds like the Chartley and Cliillingliam 

 park cattle the horns differ greatly, being long and down- 

 turned in the Chartley and shorter and upturned in the 

 Cliillingham (see Lydekker, pi. iv.). Yet in spite of these 

 ditierences the one breed, I take it, has as much claim as the 

 other to be regarded as a pure-bred representative of B. taums. 

 Apart from the qualification, I entirely agree with Prof. 

 Ewart's dictum (P. Z. S. 1911, pi. 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. This 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 

 appearaiice." It ia needless to mention all llie peculiarities 

 described by Darwin and Owen, the most remarkable being 

 the upward eiirvature of the jaws, the short broad forehead, 

 the extremely abbreviated nasal bones, and the union between 

 the premaxillse and the lacrymals. Tlie.se 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 irom 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 



