CnAP. III. CAUSES OF VARIATION. 95 



Having described the semi-monstrous niata breed, I may 

 allude to a white bull, said to have been brought from Africa, 

 which was exhibited in London in 1829, and which has been 

 well figured by Mr. Harvey.''' It had a hump, and was fur- 

 nished with a mane. The dewlap was peculiar, being divided 

 between its fore-legs into parallel divisions. Its lateral hoofs 

 were annually shed, and grew to the length of five or six inches. 

 The eye was very peculiar, being remarkably prominent, and 

 " resembled a cup and ball, thus enabling the animal to see 

 on all sides with equal ease ; the pupil was small and oval, or 

 rather a parallelogram with the ends cut off, and lying trans- 

 versely across the ball." A new and strange breed might 

 probably have been formed by careful breeding and selection 

 from this animal. 



I have often speculated on the probable causes through 

 which each separate district in Great Britain came to possess 

 in former times its own peculiar breed of cattle ; and the ques- 

 tion is, perhaps, even more perplexing in the case of Southern 

 Africa. We now know that the differences may be in part 

 attributed to descent from distinct species ; but this cause is 

 far from sufficient. Have the slight differences in climate 

 and in the nature of the pasture, in the different districts of 

 Britain, directly induced corresponding differences in the 

 cattle ? We have seen that the semi - wild cattle in the 

 several British parks are not identical in colouring or size, 

 and that some degree of selection has been requisite to keep 

 them true. It is almost certain that abundant food given 

 during many generations directly aifects the size of a breed. ''^ 

 That climate directly affects the thickness of the skin and 

 the hair is likewise certain : thus Roulin asserts ^^ that the 

 hides of the feral cattle on the hot Llanos " are always much 

 less heavy than those of the cattle raised on the high plat- 

 form of Bogota ; and that these hides yield in weight and in 

 thickness of hair to those of the cattle which have run wild 

 on the lofty Paramos. ' The same difference has been observed 



*' Loudon's Magazine of Nat. "* Low, ' Domesticated Animals of 



Hist.,' voL L, 1829, p. 113. Separate Die British Isles,' p. 264. 



figures are given of the animal, its '^^ ' Mem. de I'lnstitut present, par 



hoofs, eye, and dewlap. divers Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p. 332. 



