CONTENTS. 



CSlPTER I. 



OEIGIN OF DOMESTIC CATTLE. 



Disagreement as to origin of domestic cattle — The ox in prehistoric 

 times — ^The Bos urus — The Bos longifroiis — Domestic cattle de- 

 scended from one or the other, or from both — Opinion of various 

 naturalists : Riitimeyer, Cuvier, Bell, Boyd Dawkins, Darwin, 

 Storer, Owen, Dr John Alexander Smith— Are the unis and the 

 longifro7is really distinct species? — Practical value of the dis- 

 cussion — Probability of domestic cattle coming from "one com- 

 mon source " — Low on variations in cattle, 



CHAPTER II. 



ORIGIN OF POLLED EACES OF CATTLE. 



Speculation as to origin of hornless cattle — Their antiquity — Their 

 distinctiveness — Letter from Darwin on loss of horns — Letter 

 from Dr John Alexander Smith — Professor Low's opinion — 

 Absence of horns — Deviation from original form — Loss of horns 

 before and after domestication — Preserved and fixed by selection 

 in breeding — Acquaintance with principles of breeding in early 

 times — Advice of Palladius, Columella, and Virgil — Distribution 

 of polled cattle — Polled cattle in Austria, South America, Nor- 

 way, and Iceland — In Cheshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshii-e, 

 Norfolk, Yorkshire, Devonshire, in England — In Ayrshire, 

 Lanarkshire, and Isle of Skye, in Scotland — In Ireland — Exist- 

 ing polled breeds in United Kingdom — The Galloway breed — 

 Norfolk and Suffolk polk, . . . . .11 



