SKULLS OV OXEN FROM NBWSTEAD. 



279 



agrees with a Zebu skull (text-fig. 91) in the Royal College of 

 Surgeons Museum, London. In Bos 2)rimigeniics the shield-like 

 projection for the ligameutum nuchce is in contact with the 

 occipital crest, but in some of the small Newstead skulls, as in 

 the skull of the acutlfrons type, the rough surface for the attach- 

 ment of the ligameiitimi nachce lies, as in some Zebus, nearly 

 midway between the occipital crest and the upjjer border of the 

 foramen magnum. Further inquiry may show that Indian 

 domestic cattle are in part descended from ancestors allied to 

 Lydekker's Bos acatifrons and that the Celtic Shorthorn [Bos 

 lojtgifi'ons Owen, Bos hrachyceros Riitimeyer) is intimately related 

 to some of the small Oriental races. 



Text-fig. 90. 



Front part of the skull of u Zebu in wliicli the premaxilltie fail to reaeli 

 the nasals. 



The Origin of the Newstead Oxen, 



In addition to cross-bred iinimals Newstead has yielded five 

 fairly distinct types of Oxen, viz. : — (1) Oxen of the Celtic Short- 

 horn type ; (2) Long-horned Oxen of the Urus type ; (3) Oxen 

 with an occiput of the Bos acutifrons type ; (4) Oxen with a 

 convex forehead, an arcuated intei'cornual ridge and horns curving 

 outwards and backwards : and (5) Hornless Oxen. It is im- 

 possible to say definitely how any of these forms originated, but 

 it may be safely assunred that they were not all foi-med in 

 Europe from Bos ■priniigenias. 



19* 



