238 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



place in the shadows of each edge, each diminishing as it approached 

 a position parallel to the line of the curves of the sun's crescent, and 

 increasing as it became perpendicular to it. There was, moreover, 

 observable a peculiar curving upwards of the line of junction of the 

 penumbras of the horizontal and vertical edges of the card at the 

 angles of the shadow, which evidently corresponded to the crescent 

 shape of the sun itself. 



" Of course, the shadows of all other objects were at the same 

 time thrown out of proportion. Thus, when the hand was held 

 horizontally and edgeways in front of, and at some distance from, the 

 sheet of paper, its shadow above and below was very much more 

 sharply defined and narrow than under ordinary circumstances, but 

 if it was held vertically, the indistinct penumbra took the place of 

 any distinct shadow. 



" These effects were very remarkable, in consequence of the beau- 

 tiful clearness of the sky here at the time of the eclipse, and suggested 

 the thought, that this considerable modification of other shadows 

 could not but affect the usual aspect of all the objects around, and 

 contribute to the peculiarity of their appearance." 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEAENED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— Feb. 20. 



Warington W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



On the British Fossil Oxen. — Part II. Bos longifrons, Owen. 

 By W. Boyd Dawkins, Esq., MA. (Oxon.), F.G.S. 



The author analyzed the characteristics usually assigned to Bos 

 longifrons, and concluded that there were none of specific value to 

 separate it from the smaller varieties of Bos Taurus. The large 

 series of skulls in the Dublin and Oxford Museums show that Bos 

 frontosus of Nilsson is a mere variation from the more usual type. 

 Professor Owen, on the faith of its occurrence on the Essex shore, 

 along with the remains of extinct animals also washed up by the 

 waves, ascribes to this species a Pleistocene age. This inference, 

 on a rigid examination of the premises, turns out to be faulty, and 

 there is no evidence anywhere in Europe that it co-existed with any 

 of the extinct mammals, the Irish elk being excepted. It is very 

 commonly associated with the remains of man, of a date anterior 

 to the Saxon invasion. It was kept in great herds during the 

 Roman occupation, and supplied the legionaries with beef. On the 

 Continent, as in Britain, it is found around the dwellings and in the 

 tombs of the Bronze and Stone folk. Nowhere is there evidence 

 of its having a higher antiquity than the Neolithic age of Sir John 

 Lubbock. It disappeared along with its Keltic masters before tho 

 Saxon invaders from the more fertile portions of Britain, and took 

 refuge in tho highlands of Scotland and Wales, where it still 



