86 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OP THE OX. 



powerful, it swells out suddenly above the knee, but is soon lost 

 in the substance of the shoulder. Below the knee the bone is 

 very small and apparently, but only apparently, weak, for the 

 smallness is only in front. The leg is deep, and the sinews stand 

 out far from the bone. The leg may seem to be a little too 

 long, but this is all the better for a working ox. There is a 

 very slight fall behind the withers, but no hollowness, and the 

 line of the back is straight along its whole length to the point 

 where the tail begins. The sides of the animal may appear to be 

 a little too flat ; but this flatness does not seem to interfere with 

 the feeding, while a deep, though somewhat flat, chest is best 

 adapted for speed. Not only, liowever, is the breast broad and 

 the chest deep ; but the two last ribs are very bold and pro- 

 minent, thus leaving room for the stomachs and other parts con- 

 cerned in digestion to be fully developed. The hips are high 

 and on a level with the back, no matter whether the beast be fat 

 or lean. The hind-quarters, occupying the space from the hip to 

 the point of the rump, are very long and well filled up. Hence 

 room is left for the deposition of flesh in the most valuable part ; 

 and, moreover, like the extensive quarters of the blood-horse, 

 they point to the possession of great power behind. The fulness 

 here and the swelling of the thigh below are of much greater 

 importance than is the prominence of fat on the rump, which is 

 so much admired in the case of prize cattle. The tail is on 

 a level with the back, rarely elevated, and never depressed. 

 The skin of the Devonshire ox is very mellow and elastic, 

 although the curliness of the hair might at first sight seem to 

 point to the possession of a less elastic skin. When the skin 

 can be easily raised from the hips, we know that there is room 

 for fat below it. The skin, too, is rather thin. The hair is 

 curly, as we pointed out above, and these curls look like little 

 ripples produced by wind on a smooth surface of water. Soma 

 of these cattle, however, have the hair smooth, and, if so, it 

 should be fine and glossy. Those oxen which possess curly hair 

 are said to be a little hardier than others not possessed of curly 

 hair, and to fatten more readily. The colour is blood red, 

 and this is supposed to indicate purity of breed ; but many good 

 specimens may be of a chestnut or even of a bay-brown hue. If 

 the eye be clear and good and the skin mellow, it does not matter 

 if the colour is paler than blood-red. If patches of white run, so 



