110 IMr. R. T. Pococlc on some 



wiKl protot3'peof the dog. Moreover, pure-bred dingoes and 

 some Eskimo dogs, I am told, never bark. But no one believes 

 fliem on that account to be specifically distinct from dogs 

 ■which habitually bark. For these reasons I do not think 

 the differences between the voices of B. indicus and B. taurus 

 can be held as proof of specific difference between them, and 

 the same concession must be made in the case of the claim of 

 the banteng descent of J5. indicus. 



Habits. — Blyth pointed out that humped cattle in India 

 differ from ordinary European cattle in that they never seek 

 shade and never go into water and stand tliere knee-deep, 

 l^ydekker (p. 150) quotes this passage in his endorsement of 

 Blyth's opinion that the zebu is of different specific descent 

 from European cattle ; but his acceptance of the theory that 

 zebu arc domesticated forms of the banteng involves the con- 

 clusion that an equally great change in iiabits has taken 

 place, the banteng being a forest-dweller like its ally the 

 gaur. Moreover, when discussing (p. 89) Professor Hughes's 

 denial that Biitish park cattle were derived from an ancestor 

 wliicli dwelt in forests, he admits that the habits of domesti- 

 cated cattle have varied to some extent from those of their 

 wild ancestors. This admission is founded on the known 

 habit of park cattle of lying out in the open during periods of 

 repose, coupled with the assumption that the aurochs {B. 

 jyrimigenius) resembled the gaur in seeking shade. Although 

 the truth of this assumption cannot, in my opinion, be 

 granted, considering that the gaur is a tropical Indian species, 

 whereas the aurochs inhabited temperate latitudes in Europe 

 and Asia, Lydekker's opinion that a change of habit has 

 taken place in park cattle deprives of its value his suj)port of 

 Blyth's claim that the further change in the case of the zebu 

 is evidence of specific difference of origin *. 



The zebu's avoidance of water may perhaps be explained, 

 without reference to specific ancestral traits, by its being 

 oiiginally, at all events, a breed raised for survival in hot 

 desert countries where water was periodically scarce, and 

 where in times of drought and shortage of food the hump was 

 useful for the sustenance it supplied. In specimens kept on 



* An interesting case attesting variation in habits and instincts of 

 park cattle was reported to me some years ago. The Zoological Society 

 sent a bull and a cow of a mixed Vaynol and Chartley breed to Calcutta. 

 The bull soon died from exposure to the sun, disregarding the shade of a 

 tree in the enclosure. The cow, having the instinct to avail herself of 

 the shelter, survived. 



