Characters as Adaptive and Specific. 193 



with the nasal.' So that even the connexion of some of the 

 bones is changed. Other dififerences might be added : thus the 

 plane of the condyles is somewhat modified, and the terminal 

 edge of the premaxillaries forms an arch. In fact, on comparison 

 with the skull of a common ox, scarcely a single bone presents 

 the same exact shape, and the whole skull has a wonderfully 

 different appearance '." 



As I cannot find that this remarkable skull has 

 been figured before, I have had the accompanying 

 woodcut made in order to compare it with the 

 skull of a Charsley Forest ox ; and a glance is suffi- 

 cient to show what " a wonderfully different appear- 

 ance " it presents. 



Now the important points in the present connexion 

 with regard to this peculiar race of cattle are the 

 following. 



Their origin is not known ; tut it must have been 

 subsequent to the year 1552, when cattle were first 

 introduced to America from Europe, and it is known 

 that such cattle have been in existence for at least 

 a century. The breed is very true, and a niata bull 

 and cow invariably produce niata calves. A niata 

 bull crossed with a common cow, and the reverse 

 cross, yield offspring having an intermediate character, 

 but with the niata peculiarities highly conspicuous ^. 



Here, then, we have unquestionable evidence of 

 a whole congeries of very distinctive characters, so 

 unlike anything that occurs in any other cattle, 

 that, had they been found in a state of nature, 

 they would have been regarded as a distinct 



' Darwin, Variation, Sec, vol. i. pp. 92-4. 

 '^ Ibid. p. 94. 



11. 



