ON NIATA CATTLE. 273 



22. Some Notes on the Niata Breed o£ Cattle (Bos taurus). 

 By Ernest Gibson, F.Z.S. 



[Received March 12, 1915 : Read April 13, 1915.] 



(Text-figures 1 & 2.) 



Variation. 



When Charles Darwin* published in 'The Voyage of H.M.S. 

 Beagle,' more than 80 years ago, his account of this curious race, 

 he attributed its then rarity and probable extinction to the 

 abnormal formation of the lips, which rendered browsing difficult 

 in times of drought, i. e. when the pasture became very short. 

 Be that as it may, its career would seem to be now nearly ended. 

 Dr. W.J. Holland, in his very interesting book ' To the River 

 Plate and Back,' p. 117 (1912-13), sums up its epitome as 

 follows: — ' ; Dr. Bruch, the learned Curator of Zoology at the 

 Museum of La Plata, informs me that the race is either verging 

 upon extinction, or has already become totally extinct. Although 

 it is still reported to survive in the Province of Catamarca, 

 Dr. Bruch told me that a German naturalist, who recently 

 visited Argentina for the express purpose of studying these 

 creatures, and travelled widely in quest of them, was unable to 

 see or secure a single specimen " t. I have an impression of 

 reading very recently in a director's report of his visit to one of 

 the Estancias belonging to his Company in North Patagonia, 

 that he saw quite a number of Niata cattle ; but it is to be feared 

 that what he saw and what his Company is the proud possessor 

 of, were only some shockingly bad Creole animals of the old type. 



In the ' La Nacion ' newspaper of 14th May, 1890, or nearly a 

 quarter of a century ago, Senor Ramon Lista (Argentine explorer 

 and naturalist) published an open letter, directed to Dr. Francisco 

 P. Moreno, of which the following is a translation : — 



" An Interesting Animal. — The actual great Agricultural Show 

 (Palermo, Buenos Aires) presents much that is admirable in 

 respect of its livestock ; but with all frankness, I must confess 

 that what has most aroused my curiosity as a naturalist is a 

 little snub-nosed cow, which might well be denominated Cow- 

 dog from its resemblance to a Bull-dog, of which it has the same 

 defiant and sneering expression, produced by the permanent 

 retraction of the upper lip, leaving the teeth exposed in a 

 manner similar to that breed of dogs. 



* This breed was further discussed by Darwin (' Variation of Animals and Plants 

 under Domestication,' i. pp. 109-111, ed. 1905) and by Romanes (' Darwin and after 

 Darwin,' ii. p. 192), who published a figure of the skull described by Owen. 



f The skull figured by Dr. Holland is nearly intermediate in length of jaw 

 between the skull of ordinary cattle and that of the Niata breed figured by Romanes. 



