THE EXTINCT MAMMALS OF LAKELAND 



lvii 



curved inwards than in the typical form, as exemplified by 

 the skull figured in Owen's British Fossil Mammals. You 

 are doubtless aware that B. primigenius is now regarded as 

 a variety of B. taurus, and that its proper vernacular name is 

 the Auroch.' 



Mr. Thorpe assisted me in taking careful measurements of 

 both the Muncaster and Howgill Castle heads. We may com- 

 pare these together with the dimensions of one of the two 

 skulls found at Silloth, as furnished by Dr. Leitch ; 





Muncaster. 



Howgill. 



Silloth. 



Distance inside between points of cores, . 



ft. in. 

 2 6 



ft. in. 

 2 7 



ft. in. 

 2 3 



Breadth of forehead between cores, . 



1 



10i 



10 



Circumference of core at base, . 



1 H 



1 3 



1 0J 



Breadth of forehead between orbits, . 



o in 



111 



... 



Length of curve of core, .... 



2 3i 



2 4} 





From the inferiority of the measurements of the head re- 

 corded by Dr. Leitch, we may perhaps infer that it belonged to 

 a cow Auroch. Whether the white wild cattle of Thornthwaite 

 were the degenerate descendants of the Auroch, or represented 

 the reversion of some domesticated breed of Oxen to a wild 

 state is of course entirely an open matter. At the present 

 time the latter view is that which appears to find most favour 

 with those best qualified to decide this moot point. 



