CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 495 



some have supposed that the line of descent, from the former to the latter, is thus logically estab- 

 lished. 



To this view several serious difficulties are offered. In the first place, though the fossil bones 

 alluded to — those of the Bos primigenius — may probably be those of Caesar's Urus, there is no 

 historical evidence to show any connection between this species and the Scottish or Chillingham 

 breeds, and which, by the way, are called by naturalists Bos Scoticiis. The only grounds for 

 alleging the descent of one from the other, is that the latter are said to be of a wild and untam- 

 able character, and hence to be in their nature and disposition like the former. It appears, how- 

 ever, that on this point there has been much exaggeration. The only remains of these breeds are 

 a few small herds in the park of the Duke of Hamilton, in Scotland, and in that of Lord Tanker- 

 ville, at Chillingham, in Northumberland. These, we are told, are invariably white, fly wildly 

 from the approach of man, though wheeling round after a time and tossing their heads in a 

 menacing manner; hide their calves in remote and solitary retreats; they possess a mane, a 

 square, concave forehead, a throat and breast covered with coarse hair, etc., etc. This exciting 

 portrait is, however, a good deal subdued by the statements of a recent and careful observer, Mr. 

 Vasey, who says in his work on the ox tribe, that "the animals in question do not exhibit more 

 wildness than most domesticated animals when allowed to roam without restraint; and that their 

 i voung, when properly reared, are as docile as those of the ordinary domestic cattle. Nor do they 

 possess a mane, as has been frequently asserted. These wild cattle breed with the domestic cattle. 

 The cow goes the same period with young. They have the same number of ribs, and even their 

 white color at Chillingham is the result of the destruction, by order of the owner, of all spotted 

 calves that are produced." 



We deem it safe, therefore, to conclude that the Urus of Caesar has wholly disappeared from 

 the earth as a living species ; that the Aurochs is a true Bison, and cannot have been the parent 

 of our modern domestic Ox. Nor can we rationally trace this to any species of buffalo, nor indeed, 

 to any other wild animal now known. It is possible and probable, that among the various fossil 

 relics of bovine animals found in Europe, those of the true progenitors of our modern cattle may 

 exist; but after all, we must come back to the historical fact that in the very earliest records of 

 our race, the ox is found to be existing in a domestic state. Jnbal, the son of Lamech, probably 

 born in the lifetime of Adam, is spoken of in the Bible as "the father of such as have cattle;" 

 cattle were amono- the animals that entered the ark with Noah ; cattle were woven into the relig- 

 ions and domestic institutions of the ancient Egyptians, and hence appear inscribed on the oldest 

 of their monuments. The Greeks and Romans used cattle for sacrifice, as well as for the same 

 uses to which we devote them ; the ox and cow figure among the remotest records of India. The 

 traditions of every Celtic nation enroll the cow among the earliest productions of civilization. The 

 Island of Great Britain was so stocked with cattle in the time of Caesar, that milk constituted a 

 large part of the food of the inhabitants. 



The ox, then — the domestic ox — is as old as civilized man ; if man began his career as a civil- 

 ized being, the ox, already tamed and suited to his use, was doubtless given him ; if man was at 

 1 a savage, we may conclude that the ox, in the beginning, was also a wild animal. But at 

 sent, no living race, wild or tame, can claim, with any degree of confidence, to be the exact 

 ype of that primeval species. As the horse and dog have lost their father, so has the ox ; all 

 ve can say of him, therefore, is, that his name was Bull: not Bull Urus, and not Bull Aurochs, 

 ind not Bull Buffalo, but Bull Taurus, such as we have all often seen — a powerful animal, with 

 curly pate, giant frame, and a loud, bellowing voice, challenging all other bulls to combat. 

 From these speculations — which, after all, are very enticing to the imagination — we might 

 urn to another question, that of the origin of the numerous breeds of domestic cattle. They are 

 uite as diversified in color, form, temper, and other physical and moral qualities as the nations 

 Ind tribes of men. What a wilderness of breeds between short-horns, long-horns, middling-horns, 

 »d no horns at all; between white and black, pied and brindled!* But a* this subject is not 



— 1 — 



* Dr. Gray gives upward of forty synonyms for this species— the Common Ox. It is the Bos Taurus of Pliny; 

 ixrus castratus of Johnston ; Vacca of Gesner; Bos domestici/s and Bos taurus of Linuams ; the Bull, Ox, and Com- 

 'pn Ox of Pennant and Shaw ; the Stier and Ochs of German writers, and Ban/ of the French ; it is the White Scotch. 



