8 ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC CATTLE. 



expresses his entire concurrence with Owen's belief as to 

 the extirpation of the urus. Dr Smith adds : " To suppose 

 beasts like these not only tamed, in opposition to such 

 decided evidence to the contrary, but also so strangely 

 degenerated into the comparatively small-sized and placid 

 ox of the present day, seems really past belief." He is 

 inclined to regard the longifrons as " the true origin of 

 our domesticated cattle," and presents strong evidence in 

 support of the contention. 



These extracts from noted writers, not by any means 

 comprising all the different views that have been expressed 

 by men entitled to be heard on the subject, will serve to 

 indicate how hopelessly involved the question of the 

 " true origin " of our domestic cattle has become. But 

 while we despair of the discovery of facts calculated to 

 bring all investigators and thinkers to full agreement, we 

 indulge the comfortable conviction that for every practical 

 purpose it matters little which of the varying " beliefs," 

 " opinions," and " contentions " referred to is really the 

 correct one. We shall not seriously raise the question 

 as to whether the two recognised types of ancient hump- 

 less cattle, the urus and the longifrons, should properly 

 be regarded as " distinct species," or merely as varieties 

 of one species, the sub-genus Bos taurus, modified in form 

 by food, climate, and other changing conditions. That 

 is indeed a question upon which some pertinent considera- 

 tions might be submitted ; but for our present purpose it 

 will suffice to assure the reader that whether the existing 

 races of domesticated cattle are the descendants of the 

 huge long-homed urus, or the slender short-horned longi- 

 frons, or of both combined, the material of which these 

 races are composed and the forces bound up in them are 

 still the same. If (as the late Mr Storer would have us 

 believe) at Chillingham we might look upon a pure 

 descendant of the urv^, and in the Highlands of Scotland 

 upon a living specimen of the ancient longifrons, we would 



