SKULLS OF OXEN' FROM XEWSTEAU. 



261 



the angle between the maxilla and tlie nasal (text-fig. 69, A, B) ; 

 but in a skull believed to be tliat of a new-born calf there is 

 a considerable gap between the preaiaxilla and the nasal (text- 

 fig. 70, A, B). In some of the skulls from the JSTewstead Fort the 

 premaxilUe are large and have nearly as extensive a connection 

 with the nasals as in the Buffalo ; in others they are short and 

 separated from the nasals by a considerable interval. 



Text-li 



Front part of skull of polled XewsteaJ Ox in wliicli the upper end of the 

 prcmaxillaj (P. 31.) bifurcates. 



In a Newstead polled skull the premaxillse are long and more 

 extensively connected with the nasals than in tlie Urus skull 

 shown in text-fig. <56. In some Aberdeen-Angus cattle the pre- 

 maxillse are short, in others they are so long and so extensively 

 connected with the nasals that they reach to within 25 mm. of 

 the lachrymal bones (text-fig. 71); in a Buffalo with premaxillfe 

 of the same length (text-fig. 64) the lachrymals ai'e 75 mm. from 

 the premaxillfe. Apparently in some Syrian cattle the premaxilke 

 extend well up between the maxilke and nasals. In a skull of a 

 Syrian Ox figured by Duerst* the premaxillse henv the same 

 relation to the nasals and lachrymals as in the Angus skull 

 figui-ed. As this Syrian Ox h;id small imperfect horns (text- 

 fig. 72), and as the skull apart from the horn-cores resembles 

 the skull of the flat-polled Angus strain, it may represent a phase 

 in the evolution of the Aberdeen -Angus breed. The larae 



* Wilckons 



Proc. Zool. Soo. 



■ Naturji-i'schiclite der Haustiere,' p. 311, lODo. 



-1911, No. XVIII. 18 



