302 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



climate, such as that of the forests in which dwelt the 

 wild aurochs. This disposes, once and for all, of a theory 

 recently broached that the park cattle are descendants of 

 a white sacrificial breed introduced by the Romans. 



A further inference is that the Pembroke cattle are 

 themselves the most immediate descendants of the wild 

 aurochs (which, as we have already seen, was black) now 

 living in the British Islands, or perhaps, indeed, anywhere 

 else. That the park cattle have in some cases reverted to 

 a semi-wild state, whereas the Pembrokes are thoroughly 

 domesticated, has nothing to do with- the argument, and 

 is merely the result of the force of circumstances. 



To some persons the red ears of the Chillingham and 

 some of the old Welsh white cattle may give rise to a 

 doubt as to the relationship with the aurochs and Pem- 

 broke breed ; but it should be borne in mind that red is 

 the primitive coloration of all wild cattle, and that, for 

 aught we know to the contrary, the calves, or even the 

 cows, of the aurochs may have been of this colour, as are 

 those of the banting, or wild ox, of Java, of which the 

 old bulls are black. The red ears of the Chillingham breed 

 are therefore, at most, a reversion to the colour of the 

 ancestors of the aurochs. 



From the foregoing statements it is evident that the 

 aurochs and the Pembroke and park cattle belong to one 

 and the same species, and since the latter do not appear 

 specifically separable from the domesticated cattle of Scan- 

 dinavia, which probably formed the type of the Bos taurus 

 of Linnaeus, it is clear that the aurochs has no right to 

 a distinct species name. Instead of Bos primigenius, it 

 should be called Bos taurus primigenius. 



