508 



RUMINANTIA. 



DOVWM. 



Fig. 211. 



Frontlet and horn-cores or Bos longifrons^ Bog, Ireland. 



BOS LONGIFRONS. Long-fronted, or Small Fossil Ox. 



Race of Ox from Irish Bog, 



indent Dos not exceeding the modern Ox, 



Bos lonffifrons, 



BALL, Proceedings of Royal Irish 

 Academy, January, 1839. 



WOODS, Description of Fossil Skull 

 of an Ox, 4to., 1839, p. 28. 



OWKN, Report of British Associa- 

 tion, 1843, p. 235. 



THE magnitude of the great Hercynian Urus, and the 

 direction of its horns, have led, as we have just seen, 

 to its being distinguished, by the name of Bos primigenius, 

 from the ordinary species of domestic cattle {Bos taurus). 

 But " the naturalist well knows," says Cuvier, " that such 

 characters are neither constant nor proper for the distinc- 

 tion of species ;" and it appears, in fact, that the Bos 

 primigenius, whilst it retained its great bulk and enor- 

 mous horns, was subject to some variety in their curvature, 



