BOS LONGIFRONS 21 



at their upper part." McKenny Hughes, also 

 from British and Irish skeletons, says 1 that "Bos 

 longifrons was a very small animal ; probably not 

 larger than a Kerry cow. It was remarkable for 

 the height of its forehead above its orbits, for its 

 strongly developed occipital region, and its small 

 horns curved inward and forward." 



There have also been speculations as to the 

 colours of both these ancient oxen, but in neither 

 case have they been based upon sure foundations. 

 As regards Bos primigenius, the foundations 

 were absolutely unsafe, for Caesar's hint is of no 

 value, even if we knew the colour that was in 

 his mind when he wrote of the Uri that " in 

 kind, colour, and shape they are bulls " ; nor can 

 the colour of an animal so long extinct be inferred 

 from the great variety among the larger European 

 breeds of the present day, were it even clear 

 that these are the descendants of Bos primigenius. 

 As to the colour of the pre-historic Bos longifrons, 

 speculators are upon much safer ground, since 

 many of his descendants are still alive. But 

 there is always the difficulty of eliminating the 

 colours of intruding races, or, of intruding breeds, 

 in the case of some particular branch of the Bos 

 longifrons race. Werner, 2 who had the continental 

 Bos longifrons chiefly in his mind, " describes the 



2 " Ein Beitrage zur Geschichte des Europaischen Hausrindes," 

 1892. 



