502 BOVID^E. 



other British specimens of the Bos primigenius have shown 

 superior dimensions of the bony supports of the horns. The 

 breadth of the forehead between the horns is ten inches and 

 a half; from the middle of the occipital ridge to the 

 back part of the orbit it measures thirteen inches; the 

 length of the series of upper molar teeth is six inches and a 

 half ; the breadth of the occipital condyles is six inches. 



In the manuscript catalogue of the British Museum this 

 fine specimen is ascribed to " the Caledonian Ox, Bos 

 taurus, var. gigantea" But the wild white variety with 

 black muzzles, ears, and horns, the " boves sylvestres " of 

 Leslie,* which are identical with the cattle preserved at 

 Chillingham, are of very inferior dimensions, and differ 

 particularly in the smaller proportional size, and finer and 

 more tapering figure of the horns. The Kyloes of the 

 mountainous regions of Scotland, which are more likely 

 to have been derived from an indigenous wild race than 

 the cattle of the Lowlands, differ still more from the Bos 

 primigenius than does the Chillingham breed in their di- 

 minutive size, and very short horns. 



" Many of the skulls which occur in marl-pits in Scot- 

 land," says Dr. Fleming, " exhibit dimensions superior 

 to those of the largest domesticated breed. A skull in my 

 possession measures twenty-seven inches and a half in 

 length, nine inches between the horns, and eleven inches 

 and a half across the orbits." -f* These doubtless were of 

 the same species as the skull from Perthshire, in the 

 British Museum ; and, from the very recent character of 

 the osseous substances, it may -be concluded that the Bos 

 primigenius maintained its ground longest in Scotland 

 before its final extinction. 



* 'De originc, moribus, et rebus gcstis Scotoram, Rome, 1678,' p. 10. 

 t ' History of British Animals,' p. 24. 



