Corlrespondence — Mr. C. Carter Blake » lOl 



an unbroken series with the Bos frontosus of Nilsson at one end, and 

 the more common variety of Bos longifrons at the other. *•'' ** ** 

 In consequence of this, I am unable to assign any characters of 

 specific value to the animal. *** **'* The Bos frontosus of Nilsson is 

 proved by the series in Dublin, as stated above, to be a mere variety." 

 Such, and such only, are the grounds on which Mr. Dawkins dis- 

 poses of this species. He gives two measurements of skulls of indi- 

 viduals who confessedly appertain to Bos longifrons, and have no 

 " Frontosine" characters, and eight measurements of horn-cores. No 

 further are vouchsafed to us ; none are even promised, though we 

 learn that some detailed measurements of teeth and long bones are 

 to be appended at the end of his third paper. The facts are not 

 forthcoming, or at least are not shown, on which Bos frontosus can 

 be eradicated from the catalogue. It is quite possible that the large 

 series of longifrons remains in the Dublin and Oxford Museums may 

 corroborate Mr. Dawkins' conclusion ; those in the British Museum 

 and Eoyal College of Surgeons Collections, to which Mr. Dawkins 

 appeals, have not led me, after most careful examination, to arrive 

 at the same result. Science imperatively requires, not a mere 

 sweeping assertion ihdX Bos frontosus ''cannot be made out" as a 

 species, but a careful series of measurements of at least fifty speci- 

 mens, so that the " unbroken series" which Mr. Dawkins imagines 

 to exist may be distinctly shown. Till evidence is really put in, 

 Nilsson's species must be allowed to stand. 



Mr. Dawkins' arguments in favour of the "affinity" of the old 

 Aquitanian cave-dwellers " with the Esquimaux" do not appear to 

 be of the strongest value. " The habit of sculpturing animals on 

 their implements" is common in all savage races; ''the carelessness 

 about the remains of their dead relatives" is also predicable of many ; 

 " the fact that the food consisted chiefly of reindeer" only proves that 

 reindeer was an accessible and plentiful food, and by no means 

 denotes community of origin. Mr. Dawkins' argument is : — All 

 who eat reindeer meat are " closely allied : " Esquimaux eat rein- 

 deer meat, and Aquitanian cave-dwellers ate reindeer meat: 

 Esquimaux and Aquitanian cave-dwellers are "closely allied." 

 At the present moment, English, Americans, Negroes, and Eed 

 Indians are feeding here on beef (when they can get it) : yet 

 there is no community of race. Mr. Dawkins' last statement 

 regarding the small stature being " proved in the people of the 

 Dordogne Caverns by the small-handed dagger figured by Messrs. 

 Lartet and Christy in the Revue Archeologique" I must doubt. All 

 who are acquainted with the small-griped swords of the exist- 

 ing Hindoos, and of many of the so-called Phoenician sepultures, 

 will know that they are held in the hand in a very different way to 

 that of our own swords, and that the smallness of the grip by no 

 means connotes the size of the individual. I must not, however, 

 discuss this matter further in a periodical devoted to geology. 



Mr. Dawkins accuses Professor Owen of holding "contradictory 

 opinions." In opposition to the first, that " the Eomans imported 

 into Britain their ' already domesticated cattle,' and our breeds are 



