334 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Boyd Dawkins on " The Chartley White Cattle." The Professor's opinion 

 as to the origin of these cattle is not in unison with the writer of the 

 previously mentioned memoir, who discarded the conclusions of Rutimeyer, 

 and accepted those of Prof. McKenny Hughes. Prof. Dawkins considers 

 that the breed of these large White Cattle was " domesticated on the Con- 

 tinent, as Rutimeyer has shown, in the Neolithic age, and occurs in the 

 refuse-heaps accumulated round the pile-dwellings in Switzerland. It is 

 descended from the great wild Urus, which abounded in the forests of the 

 Continent in pre-historic times, and lingered in Europe as far down as the 

 time of Charles the Great. It has nothing to do with the large fawn- 

 coloured cattle of Italy, as suggested by Prof. McKenna Hughes. These 

 are derived from the east, and probably from Egypt. This larger breed 

 spread over the Continent of Europe through the Pre-historic and Early 

 Historic period, and became defined from all others by its white colour and 

 red or black ears, not merely in the British Isles, but also in Spain." 



The ultimate conclusions are : — 



" 1. That the beautiful Chartley breed was originally introduced into 

 this country along with the closely allied breeds of Chillingham and other 

 places, in a domesticated condition, from the Continent, where they had 

 been carefully selected by man during long ages. 



" 2. That they were introduced about the time of the English or 

 Danish conquests. 



" 3. And, lastly, that the shyness and wildness of the breed is due to 

 the fact of their never having been confined in small enclosures, where 

 they would come into close contact with man." 



The Linnean Society's Journal — Zoology— contaius a paper, read last 

 December, by Mr. H. J. Elwes, " On the Zoology and Botany of the Altai 

 Mountains," the results of a journey made in that region last summer. 

 Mr. Elwes remarks that the Altai Mountains are almost unknown to 

 English naturalists, and practically less known to naturalists as a whole 

 than many parts of Central Africa. So far as he was aware, " the only 

 travellers who have written on the natural history of the country are 

 Pallas, whose great work is well known, though now rather out of date ; 

 Ledebour and Bunge, who sixty years ago compiled an excellent account of 

 the botany of the Altai ; Helmersen, who has described the geology of the 

 country ; and Tchihatchetf, a well-known Russian traveller, who published 

 an account of his travels, in French, in 1852." 



As regards the Mammalia, we learn that the Ibex of the Altai (Capra 

 sibirica, Pallas), the head and horns of which were exhibited, is nearly 

 allied to the Himalayan Ibex, and is common in some parts of the moun- 



