THE BOVINE TRIBE. 2C!7 



by a distemper, some years ago. They varied slightly from those at Chlllinghani, having black . 

 and muzzles, and the tips of their tails of the same colour ; they were ;ilso nnirli linger, many of them 

 weighing sixty stone probably owing to the richness of the pasturage in Holderness, but generally 

 attributed to the difference of kind between those with black and with red ears the former of whirl, 

 they studiously endeavour to preserve. The breed which was at Drumlanrig, in Scotland, had . 

 black eai-s. 



Our naturalist, Mr. Bell, says : "Whether the ox exist now, or has existed within the range of 

 sound historical testimony, in its original state, or whether, as in the case of the horse, all the instan 

 of the occurrence of wild oxen of this species, now on record, have not been derived from the domestic 

 race, fortuitously escaped from servitude and become wild, is a question which it is difficult, if not 

 impossible, satisfactorily to solve. The ancient accounts of the Urus, or wild ox, declare it to have been 

 an animal of enormous size, and great fierceness; and the horns are described as being large, spreading, 

 and acute. In this country and many parts of the Continent, have been found numerous fossil bones 

 of oxen, with large horns, having the form and direction of those of certain breeds only of our present 

 cattle, particularly of such as are most wild ; as, for instance, the celebrated wild white oxen of Craven, 

 of Chillingham Park, and of Scotland (the Bos Scoticus of some authors). 



" I cannot but consider it as extremely probable that these fossil remains belonged to the original 

 wild condition of our domestic ox, an opinion which Cuvier appears to have entertained, who calls the 

 skull, ' cranes semblable it ceaux d'un boeuf domestique ;' that is, skulls resembling those of the 

 domestic ox. They are found only in very recent deposits, frequently in caverns, mingled with the 

 remains of various other animals, as in the celebrated cave of Kirkdale, and in different parts of 

 Cornwall and Devonshire. I have several teeth, and some fragments of bones, from Kent's Hole, in 

 the latter county, where they were found in the same mass with the remains of the elephant, the 

 rhinoceros, the deer, the bear, and the hyrena. Cuvier, however, considers that they existed after 

 the destruction of the latter species. It has, indeed, been attempted to prove that the ancient remains 

 alluded to, together with the Chillingham and Scottish breeds, belong to a distinct specific type from 

 the common domestic ox ; and some modifications of structure have been cited in proof of this opinion. 

 " It does not appear to me, however, that these modifications are of sufficient value to constitute 

 specific distinctions, as they appertain only to parts which are very variable in particular breeds of 

 domestic cattle ; they are some slight differences in the form and direction of the horns, and the 

 existence in old bulls of a short, rudimentary mane, and some hair upon the breast. Now, there is 

 certainly no point of sufficient importance to form a specific distinction, even were the form of tin 

 horns less variable than they are in our domestic oxen. We require yet a series of well-authenticated and 

 well-directed experiments on the intermixture of the Scottish, or Chillingham cattle, with the domestic 

 breeds, and the fertile or infertile character of the progeny ; which, if the views I have so repeatedly 

 stated be correct, would at once decide the question. Even Colonel Smith himself, a high atithority 

 in such matters, although he urges the specific difference in the two animals, says, ' The character of 

 the domestic oxen is absolutely the same as the fossil ; and the wild breeds differ only in the flexure of 

 the horns and external appearance, occasioned by the variations of climate, food, and treatment.' 

 But, it may be asked, do variations of climate^ food, and treatment, produce specific distinctions ? 

 And yet this distinction is held both by Colonel Smith and Mr. Swaiuson. Upon the whole, I cannot 

 but believe that the fossil bones belonged to the original stock of our domestic ox, and that the wild 

 white cattle (the .So* Scoticus and Urus Scoticus of the authors just named) approach so near to it as to 

 leave it a matter of doubt, not whether they all belong to the same species, but whether this breed lie 

 the actual remnant of the original stock, or the descendants of domesticated individuals, which ha\e 

 resumed, in a great degree, their wild character, from having ceased, through many generations, to I'eel 

 the effects of human domination." 



To the statements of Mr. Bell we must add, however, those of Professor Owen, when speaking of 

 the Bos primigfniw. He says: "Of this species we have the same examples, short of the still 

 preserved living animal, as of the bison ; and it is most satisfactory to find such proofs of the general 

 accuracy of the brief but most interesting indications of the primitive mammalian fauna of those 

 regions of Europe which may be supposed to have presented to the Roman cohorts the same aspect as 

 America did to the first colonists of New England, 



