92 Animal Life 
its cattle are very characteristic, and have 
all the peculiar features of the white forest 
breed. It is certainly of great, though un- 
known antiquity, and is probably, now 
that the Gisburne Park cattle are extinct 
and the Hamilton herd has acquired horns, 
the best representative yet extant of the 
polled form of the old white breed of 
park cattle. Jiyme Hall is fifteen miles 
to the north-east, and Chartley is thirty 
miles to the south-east, and the three herds 
probably form a group. Perhaps, however, 
the Somerford herd is still more nearly 
allied to the Gisburne and others which came 
from Whalley Abbey. The herd, which is 
without horns, consists of twenty-six head in 
all (June, 1903).” The distinctive features 
noted by the late Rey. John Storer in 1875 
are still retained, and we cannot do better 
than quote his words: “The three-year-old 
bull,” he then wrote, “was not very high 
standing, but compact and well made: fine in 
the bone—the hair rather wiry. He was fair 
in the ribs and loin; not particularly neat, nor 
yet specially defective, in the hind-quarters: 
moderately good in the twist, but rather light 
in the leg, and in these respects resembled 
(as did the herd generally) the wild animal. 
The fore-quarters, chest, girth and bosom 
very good: plates and fore-flanks remarkably 
good; shoulders very neat, and head and 
neck very beautiful—the head broad, short 
and blood-lke; the neck strong, very much 
arched and of great substance. There was a 
tendency to a mane, which is more prominent 
when in full coat. The colour was pure 
white; the ears, rims of the eyes, muzzle 
and hoofs being quite black. There were a 
few black spots on the fetlocks of the two 
fore-legs, and immediately above the bare 
black skin of the muzzle was a strong, deep 
black line, perhaps an inch wide: and 
unmediately above it, clustering together, 
there were a few small black spots.” This 
description tallies very closely with that of 
the four-year-old bull now at Somerford. 
Like all other old herds of the forest breed 
of white cattle, they have a strong tendency 
to produce small black spots on the neck, 
sides and legs. The cows are pure white 
or nearly so, but there is a certain amount 
of black or of black spots immediately above 
the hoof on the front part of the fore-leg; 
and a line of about an inch wide of jet 
black hair round the muzzle. ‘The tails 
are all white. On their polls they all wear, 
in greater or less abundance, the “toppin” 
of long hair, which is considered a peculiar 
hereditary distinction of the race. 
We 
We understand that Mr. R. lydekker (to 
whom our readers need no 
introduction) has been elected 
a foreign member of the 
Royal Academy (Reale Academia dei Lincei) 
of Rome. Mr. Lydekker is already an 
honorary member of the Royal Zoological 
Society of Ireland and of the New Zealand 
Institute, and likewise a corresponding 
member of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Sciences and of the Boston (U.S.A.) Natural 
History Society. He is also a Fellow of our 
own Royal Society. It is seldom that one 
man achieves such high distinction in two 
separate sciences as has fallen to Myr. 
Liydekker’s lot. This is not the place to 
speak of his services to geology, but we beg 
leave to say that, in our humble opinion, 
Mr. luydekker is not only the foremost all- 
round zoologist in Great Britain to-day, 
but that there are not a dozen others who 
can approach within measurable distance 
of him. We congratulate the members of 
the Royal Academy of Rome on thei new 
colleague, and we congratulate ourselves that 
their choice has fallen on an Hnelishman who 
will so thoroughly prove himself worthy of 
the high honour which has been bestowed 
upon him. Our readers will be interested 
to hear that, in addition to the very 
important article on “Tocal Variation in the 
Giraffe” by Mr. Lydekker which appears 
in this number, we have also secured from 
him a short series of articles on ‘“ Aninal 
Dentition” which will begin in our next 
number, 
Honoris 
Causa. 
ee ee 
