B^ 



T^IE GKNESEE FARMER. 



1T5 



THE NEAT CATTLE OF 



EUROPE. — FROM WHAT 



THE UNITED STATES AND WESTERN 

 PARENT STOCK HAVE THEY DESCENDED? 



It is easy to trace the neat cattle and other domesticated quadrupeds of the United 

 States, to their first importation from Europe by early emigrants to this continent. But 

 naturalists are not entirely agreed as to the origin of the ox family described by 

 Tacitcs as constituting' the herds of the primitive (Jermans, and the neat stock found 

 in the possession of the ancient Britons when their island was invaded and conquered 

 by the Romans. Long before the creation of man, Great Britain, in its mild, humid 

 climate, possessed peculiar grass-growing capabilities, and was by nature the parent land 

 of numerous graminivorous animals. So early as the newer pliocene formations, in 

 drifts and fresb water formations, "short-horned cattle of an inferior size," as well as 

 the shaggy Bi.«on and mighty Urus (^Bos jjrimiffenius, Bojan), left their remains mingled 

 with those of the mammoth and rhinoceros. Caesar describes an ox almost equaling 

 the elephant in bulk, which Prof. Owen, in his work on the " British Fossil Animals," 

 regards as belonging to the hssil fdxnilj, Bos primigenius ; and according to some it 

 was the progenitor of our present domesticated cattle. It is more probable, however, 

 that the' "small Short-horned Ox," whose bones are found in fresh water formations, 

 which Mr. Owen calls Bos longifrons (long-sculled ox) is the true parent of British 

 cattle. In an interesting paper on the " extinct and existing Bovine Animals of Scan- 

 dinavia," Prof. NiLssoN, of Lund, thus describes the Short-horn Ox of Prof. Owen : 

 "As far as we yet know it is the smallest of the ox tribe that had lived wild in our 

 portion of the globe ; the Avhole length from the muzzle to the end of the rump bone, 

 he supposes to have been about six feet eight inches ; and, from the slender make of its 

 bones, it had rather resembled a deer than an ox. The forehead upwards over the eyes 

 is flattened, with an edge going along the frontal seam, which is most prominent 

 upwards, and ends with a rounded indentation backwards. Between the eyes is a more 

 or less considerable depression, above which there is often a rising, and beneath which 

 lies an incision for the i^asal bones, which go right uj) to the line drawn between the 

 lower borders of the orbits. (Thus the frontal bones are not longer in this species than 

 they are in the Taurus or Urus.) The horn cores are small, cylindrical, short,' curved 

 only in one direction forwards; sometimes, though seldom, downwards, in the plane of 

 the forehead. The form of the temporal cavity is, behind, transverse — obtuse; before, 

 oblique — pointed; its hinder part, to the angle above the joint of the underjaw, only 

 one-fourth part broader than the fore part. The anterior palatine apertures lancet- 

 shaped, at the back oblique inward-pointed ; the ba,ck ones lie between the palate bones ; 

 the nape transverse, upwards with a vertical indenting; downwards with a vertical edge 

 over the circular foramen of the nape. The skull of this species varies considerably in 

 size, and even something in form, according to its age and sex. The species, however, 

 is always known by a protuberance uj^on the upper part of the forehead in front, and 

 an indenting backwards." 



This description is somewhat too professional to interest most readers ; but we are of 

 the number who believe that the stock-grower and comparative anatomist should unite 

 their knowledge and labors for the advancement of an important public interest ; and 

 this has been done in Great Britain for many years with distinguished success. Between 

 the mammoth Bos primigenius and Bos longifrons, there is another fossil ox, which 

 Prof. NiLssoN denominates Bos frontosus, whose bones are found in Sweden, From 

 this species, we suspect the hornless Galloway cattle, (some good specimens of which 

 may be seen in Augusta, Charlestown, and Washington,) are descended. The following 

 briefly indicates the distinguishing features of the, Bos frontosus. The ridge of the 

 occiput rises high m the center convex ; the horns, which rest on longer pedicles than 

 among any known species of ox, are short, and directed outward, backward, and 



il 



rd 



