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XV. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN OEIGIN OF THE HORNLESS CATTLE 

 OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



By JAMES WILSON, M.A., B. Sc, 

 Professor of Agriculture in the Royal College of Science, Dublin. 



[Read March 23. Ordered for Publication April 6. Published June 19, 1909.] 



The prevailing opinion among those who have dealt with the subject is 

 that most of the British hornless breeds of cattle have originated inde- 

 pendently. Those who think tliat cattle were hornless before they were 

 horned hold that tlie hornless breeds have originated in reversions to the 

 earlier hornless condition ; while those who think that cattle were horned 

 before they were hornless liold that the hornless breeds have originated in 

 independent " spontaneous variations," as Darwin called them. 



Darwin's view, which is chiefly held, may be gatliered from the following 

 quotations : — 



" The aboriginal species from which our domesticated cattle and sheep are 

 descended no doubt possessed horns, but several hornless breeds are now well 

 established."^ 



" It is possible that some breeds, such as tlie semi-monstrous niata cattle, 

 and some peculiarities, such as being hornless, &c., have appeared suddenly 

 from what we may call a spontaneous variation ; but even in this case a rude 

 kind of selection is necessary, and the animals thus characterized must be at 

 least partially separated from others. "- 



" No one can give any explanation — although no doubt there must be a 

 cause — of the loss of horns, any more than of the loss of hair, both losses 

 strongly tending to be inherited. It is, I think, possible that the loss of 

 horns lias occurred often since cattle were domesticated, though I can call to 

 mind only a case in Paraguay about a century ago."^ 



1 " The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," 1868, vol. ii., p. 29. 

 2/4«., vol. i., p. 92. 



3 Letter to Messrs. MacdonaUl and Sinclair, published 'in their " History of Polled Aberdeen or 

 Angus Cattle," 1882, p. 12. 



SOIENT. PROC. E.D.S., VOL. XII., NO. XV. 2b 



