102 Correspondence — Mr. T. Davies. 



their descendants," he brings the statement that " Bos longifrons is 

 the only ox found in the refuse heaps, in not one or two but all the 

 camps, cities, villas, and cemeteries that bear the impress of Eoman 

 civilisation in Britain." In the first place, in one, at least, of the 

 Eoman camps (London Wall) Bos longifrons is not the only ox found, 

 as B. frontosus and trochoceros are associated with it. ^Whatever Mr. 

 Dawkins may say of Bos frontosus, I presume he will not slump B. 

 trochoceros in gurgite vasto of his longifrons. In the second place, I fail 

 to see how he can point out any difference between the characters of 

 the Eoman cattle, which he nowhere describes, and those of Bos 

 longifrons, to which he is '' unable to assign any characters of specific 

 value," Where one factor is unknown, and the other undefined, it is 

 difficult to perceive how any conclusion can be arrived at. Probably 

 if Mr. Dawkins examines carefully a series of the bovine remains 

 from Italian sepultures, he may consider these also to be longifrons. 

 This fact remains to be proved. 



Mr. Dawkins' first conclusion, that B. longifrons " has not yet been 

 proved to have existed before the Pre-historic age, in the bone-caves 

 and alluvia of which it is found abundantly," I must leave him to 

 discuss with Professor Owen. His second conclusion, that " it is the 

 ancestor of the small Highland and Welsh breeds," is self-evident, 

 and unnecessary to be proved. I fail to see that Professor Owen's 

 original opinion to this effect needed such a repetition, nor do I see 

 any new arguments in favour adduced by Mr. Dawkins. When, 

 however, he employs the expression that ''it is essentially the animal 

 with which the archseologists have to deal," I must humbly put in a 

 plea in favour of the animal nature of man, and express my belief 

 that up to the present time I thought that arch geologists had to deal 

 with human works, and human remains, as well as those of horses, 

 goats, and sheep, when found with human relics. For the present, 

 I must close this letter. 



" La plaza al punto el buey desembaraza 

 Quedando stros mas bueyes en la plaza." 

 Arriaza. 



C. Carter Blake. 



JavalI Mine, Chontalf.s, Nicaragua, 

 ith December, 1867. 



SILVER-FAHLERZ IN CORNWALL. 



Sir, — Will you allow me space for a short reply to the letter of 

 Mr. David Forbes contained in your last number ? That gentleman 

 seems to have quite misunderstood the object of my communication 

 to the Geological Magazine of December last (p. 575), upon which 

 he comments. The explanation I have to give is as follows : — 



Mr. Forbes having stated that ''the cupriferous tetrahedrite (oc- 

 casionally containing traces of silver) has been found in small 

 quantities at various localities in both England, Ireland, Scotland, 

 and Wales," I believed he would be interested to know of the fact, 

 that a cupriferous tetrahedrite, containing sufficient silver to render 

 it of considerable commercial value, had been already worked in large 

 quantity for some time past, at the Silver- vein mine in Cornwall. 



