

THE SUSSEX BREED. 35 L 



which is to be regretted, since it is much better suited to the 

 dairy than others that have been adopted. 



The peculiar marking which distinguishes these cattle is 

 not confined to any one breed. It appears amongst the cattle 

 of Wales when they are crossed by the White Forest Breed ; 

 and is frequent amongst those of Ireland, and used to be so 

 amongst the older Galloways of Scotland. It is very com- 

 mon in Holland, where the colours are black and white. It 

 may be ascribed to the intermixture of two races having each 

 a tendency to produce the pristine colour of the stock from 

 which it is derived. Thus a mixture of the White Forest 

 Breed and a Devon might produce an animal resembling the 

 Sheeted Somerset, with the Black Falkland, one resembling 

 the sheeted varieties of the Dutch, and so on. The pecu- 

 liarity, when communicated, is very constant ; and, when two 

 animals possessing it are mixed together in blood, the pro- 

 geny never fails to preserve the marking of the parents. 



XV. THE SUSSEX BREED. 



The North Devon Breed of cattle, it has been seen, in- 

 habits the elevated district on the southern side of the Bris- 

 tol Channel, and is manifestly derived from the older race 

 which inhabited the same country. In passing from the 

 greywacke district of Devonshire into the calcareous country 

 to the eastward, comprehending the greater part of Somer- 

 setshire, and the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Berks, and Hants, 

 the Devon Breed ceases to appear, or, if found, is manifestly 

 not indigenous to the districts, but derived from those to the 

 westward. It reappears, however, in the county of Sussex, 

 a portion of which differs entirely, in its geological charac- 

 ters, from the districts with which it is in contact. The 

 Weald of Sussex, or, as it termed by geologists, the Wealden, 

 is believed to have been a deposite from some vast river flow- 

 ing from a continent, no longer existing in its former state, 



