790 Derivation of the Domestic Polled Breeds. 
the mountains which gave shelter to the wild bull, is not far off. 
These“horned cattle, mixed with the local Bos longifrons, probably 
gave origin to the modern breed of cattle of that region. 
It was in the late Duke of Buccleugh’s knowledge that his favor- 
ite race of Galloways—of which he was the champion—was, up 
to the middle of last century, a horned race; and he, true conserva- 
tive, deplored the change. Perhaps the change had been wrought 
in a similar manner to that of the Ardrossan herd; or by some 
influence of the territorial magnates on their acquirement by 
political means of a connection with a country containing among 
its wild cattle many of the polled variety. 
The climate of Galloway region is described by writers on the 
breed, explaining thus the coarse hair that is a characteristic of the 
Galloway, as very humid. And we see also the result of this 
humidity in the coarse horns of the historical breed. 
Darwin quotes Prof. Low as to humidity of climate producing 
hair in abundance ; and Youatt has also stated the correlation 
between coarse hair and horn. “We can thus see how a humid 
climate,” says Darwin, “ might act on the horns—in the first place 
directly on the skin and hair, and secondly by correlation on the 
horns.” While the Galloway men themselves explain the finer 
coat of the Aberdeen from “ the drier” climate. : 
And there is an absolute dearth of any collateral evidence, deriv- 
able from local literature, philology, sculpture, etc., to indicate the 
non-existence of horns in this ancient breed; the tradition, as will 
be shown, being that they were anciently universally horned. 
ABERDEEN-ANGUS BREED. 
As the lowlands of the Caledonian region belong entirely to the 
counties associated with this breed, and as the breed from the earli- 
est times was the same foundation, the maol Kyloe, the Hartt 
polled, the dodded of the Meigle sculptured stones, the homyls ° 
King Kenneth’s time, and the hornless neat of T. Kirke, etc., must 
be accepted as the progenitors of this world-famous race of cattle 
Formerly everything connected with the history of the breed was 
wrapped in obscurity—they being an unknown breed (to the out- 
side world) in a terra incognita. I have in this investigation 
brought forward here what is new or of such importance aS the 
subject required. 
