Chap. III. THEIK VARIATION. 89 



able horns. In Paraguay, Azara describes a breed which 

 certainly originated in S, America, called chivos, " because they 

 have straight vertical horns, conical, and very large at the 

 base." He likewise describes a dwarf race in Corrientes, with 

 short legs and a body larger than usual. Cattle without horns, 

 and others with reversed hair, have also originated in Paraguay. 

 Another monstrous breed, called niatas or natas, of which I 

 saw two small herds on the northern bank of the Plata, is so 

 remarkable as to deserve a fuller description. This breed bears 

 the same relation to other breeds, as bull or pug dogs do to 

 other dogs, or as improved pigs, according to H. von Nathusius, 

 do to common pigs. 64 Eiitimeyer believes that these cattle 

 belong to the primigenius type. 65 The forehead is very short 

 and broad, with the nasal end of the skull, together with 

 the whole plane of the upper molar-teeth, curved upwards. 

 The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and has a correspond- 

 ing upward curvature. It is an interesting fact that an almost 

 similar conformation characterizes, as I have been informed by 

 Dr. Falconer, the extinct and gigantic Sivatherium of India, and 

 is not known in any other ruminant. The upper lip is much 

 drawn back, the nostrils are seated high up and are widely open, 

 the eyes project outwards, and the horns are large. In walking 

 the head is carried low, and the neck is short. The hind legs 

 appear to be longer, compared with the front legs, than is 

 usual. The exposed incisor teeth, the short head and upturned 

 nostrils, give these cattle the most ludicrous, self-confident air 

 of defiance. The skull which .1 presented to the College of 

 Surgeons has been thus described by Professor Owen : 66 " It is 

 remarkable from the stunted development of the nasals, pre- 

 maxillaries, and fore-part of the lower jaw, which is unusually 



64 ' Schweineschadel,' 1864, s. 104. numerous inquiries in La Plata, that 



Nathusms states that the form of skull the niata cattle transmit their pecu- 



characteristic of the niata cattle occa- liarities or form a race 



sionally appears in European cattle; « TJeber Art des Zahmen Europ. 



but he is mistaken, as we shall hereafter Eindes, 1866 s 28 



see m supposing that these cattle do «« < Descriptive Cat. of Ost. Collect, of 



not form a d.stmct race. P ro f. Wyman, College of Surgeons,' 1853, p. 624. Vasey, 



of Cambridge, United States, informs in his 'Delineations of the Ox-tribe/ 



me that the common cod-fish presents has given a figure of this skull; and I 



LZ1 Tp" TlS' ^^ by thG S6nt a Photograph of it to Prof. Kiiti- 

 fishermen the "bulldog cod." Prof. meyer 



Wyman also concluded, after making 



