678 The American Naturalist. [August, 
Dr. J. Cowles Pritchard (Hist, of Man), while alluding to these 
South American cattle, "which are brown, red, and black," 
refers to the observations of Don Felix de Azara (Voyages dans 
I'Amerique Meridionale), also quoted by Darwin, who states that 
in 1 770 a bull without horns was born, from which a race so charac- 
terised was founded; — " En 1770 il naquit un taureau mocho ou 
.sans comes, dont ca race s'est tres multipliee." He notes the in- 
fluence of a polled bull. The calves by him were " also destitute 
of horns." This case, stated to be the only instance of the 
origination of a peculiar breed taking place under man's own 
observation, and the only instance of such a kind within the 
knowledge of such an eminent investigator as Darwin, is very in- 
teresting. 
A year or two ago a gentleman of Buenos Ayres informed 
me that polled calves occurred among herds on the Pampas. 
North America. — Speaking of the early importations of cattle 
into Maine, Dr. Holmes states (" Agriculture of Maine," p. 80 ; 
1855): "Up to 1719, there were also occa.sionally found .some 
polled or hornless cattle, which were probably introduced from 
England, or from some of the British provinces adjoining us." 
In an interesting essay entitled " Remarks on the Physiology 
of Breeding," contained in the " Report of the Commissioner of 
Agriculture, Washington, 1863," Mr. S. L. Goodale states "that 
many years ago there were in the Kennebec valley a few polled 
or hornless cattle. They were not particularly cherished, and 
gradually diminished in numbers. Mr. Payne Wingate shot the 
last animal of this breed (a bull calf or a yearling), mistaking it 
in the dark for a bear. Thirty-five years subsequently all the 
cattle upon his farm had horns, but at the end of that time one 
of his cows produced a calf which grew up without horns, and 
Mr. Wingate said it was in all respects the exact image of the 
first bull of the breed brought there. 
Judge T. C. Jones, of Delaware, Ohio, writes that in his boy- 
hood days, say three-score years ago, " the cattle in the Ohio 
valley, as in other parts of the United States, were of every 
variety of form and color,— some with and some without horns. 
This diversity of characteristics resulted from the fact that emi- 
