4 ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC CATTLE. 



had much larger horns, even larger than the long-horned 

 breed of cattle found in the Campania of Eome. Accord- 

 ing to all accounts, the colour of this ox was black ; it 

 had white horns, with long black points ; the hide was 

 covered with hair like the tame ox, but it was shorter and 

 smooth, with the exception of the forehead, where it was 

 long and curly." Ktitimeyer, Owen, Bell, Boyd Dawkins, 

 Smith, and others, give similar descriptions of the urus, 

 differing slightly in minor details. There is uncertainty 

 as to the colour of the urus. Some say it was black ; 

 others believe it to have been white. 



By various writers elaborate measurements are presented 

 of the urus, showing that the animal must have been of 

 huge dimensions, far exceeding any living variety of 

 cattle. The length of the body " from the nape to the 

 end of the rump -bones," is stated at about 9 feet; 

 and the length of the head " from the occipital ridge to 

 the anterior border of the intermaxillary bones," at 2 

 feet 4 inches, making the entire length of the animal 

 no less than about 11 feet 4 inches. Then the height over 

 the mane is said to have been 6 feet to 6 feet 6 inches. 

 The horns carried by the urus must have been of great 

 size. The horn-cores of the various skulls found in Scot- 

 land and elsewhere measure, along the outer curvatvire, 

 about 2 feet or 2 feet 2 inches in length ; while the span 

 between the tips of the horn-cores is stated at 2 feet 2 

 inches, and their circumference at the base at 1 foot 2 

 inches. The breadth of the forehead, between the horn- 

 cores, would seem to have been about 9 inches. 



The Bos longifrons has been represented as smaller in 

 size than many of the existing varieties of cattle. Pro- 

 fessor Owen, in his work on 'British Fossil Mammals 

 and Birds,' says: "This small but ancient species or 

 variety of ox belongs, like our present cattle, to the sub- 

 genus Bos, as is shown by the form of the forehead, and 

 by the origin of the horns from the extremities of the oc- 



