114 E.vtemal Characters of lh,mmant Ariicdachjla. 



discussed in this sectioi), is to sIioav that the diversity of inter- 

 pretation of which they are susceptible weakens the force of 

 the contention that European breeds of cattle are of dual 

 specitic origin. 



V. Conclusions. 



1. Indian humped cattle {Bos indicus) are not descended 



from the banteng {Eihos bantenr/), but from some 



species of Bos, to which genus, or subgenus, they 

 belong. 



2. They intergrade in almost all characters with Bos 



taurus. Such differences as typical representatives of 

 the two breeds exhibit are quite compatible with the 

 view of their descent from a common ancestor, probably 

 the aurochs {B. primujenius) ; but zebus may be the 

 descendants of a form of Bos differing subspecificaliy, 

 ],erhaps specifically, from B. priirdgenius^ but closely 

 related thereto. Nevertheless, if that be so, the ex- 

 treme differences between B. taurus and B. indicus 

 are not traceable to original ancestral differences, but 

 are the product of long-enduring domestication, under 

 widely distinct physical conditions, coupled with 

 selective breeding along divergent lines guided by 

 difff^rent tastes and needs'^. 

 3. The claim that some Eurojiean cattle have an admixture, 

 small or great, of zebu blood, due to the human intro- 

 duction of that stock into Southern Europe is not 

 established by the facts adduced in its support. It 

 may, however, be true. On the other hand, the alleged 

 zebu characters of such cattle may be explained, if the 

 alle<.'.ation be sound, by their representing stages in the 

 evolution of the zebu type from Bos j rimigenius. 



* Although the conclusion that B. taurus and B. indicus had a common 

 pncestor or are possibly the descendants of two closely allied forms of 

 Bos has been reached by the analysis of a different clfiss of facts, it seems 

 to coincide with that of several modern students of the group. Prof. 

 Ewart, for example (P. Z. S. 1911, pt. ii. p. 281, footnote), thinks it 

 probable that the long-browed short-horned zebus are probably repre- 

 sentatives' of the small domesticated ox of Anau, the so-called Celtic 

 shorthorn, itself of aurochs descent. Perhaps the settlement of the 

 disputed relationship between Bos namadicus, the so-called Asiatic 

 aurochs, and Bos primi</enius, the European aurochs, which -Ras appa- 

 rently also of Afiatic origin, may supply an answer to the still doubtful 

 question as to -whether the domesticated cattle discussed in this paper 

 trace their descent from two distinct species of ^'os or from two local 

 races of a single species. 



