164 Notice of the Ancient Short-horned Ox. 
there still remained three of the molar teeth; being the two 
last molars of the upper jaw, and the third, the last molar of 
the other side ; these I have compared with the teeth of our 
domestic cattle, and found them to be almost identical in 
character, the arrangement of their enamel folds, and general 
structure being the same. I believe these to be the first re- 
mains of the Bos longifrons which have been discovered in 
Scotland. And I may also mention, that in May 1853 there 
was presented to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of 
Scotland, a portion of the lower jaw-bone of an ox, which 
had been found in a strange building, of several chambers, 
covered by a tumulus, and called a ‘“ Picts’ House,” situated 
on the western declivity of Wideford Hill, near Orkney, 
which was opened, and particularly examined by George 
Petrie, Esq. The specimen, which consists of a portion of 
the body of the jaw-bone, was lately examined, by Professor 
Quekett, of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and was 
considered by him to belong to this same species of the Bos 
longifrons. It seems especially worthy of notice, as proving 
the existence of this small ox in the Orkney Islands, at a very - 
early period, when the country in all probability was inha- 
bited by some of the primitive races of our land ; and is, as 
far as I am aware, the first instance of its existence being 
noticed so far to the north in Britain. I may remark, in con- 
clusion, that the occurrence of this Orkney specimen, should 
we believe it to be a domesticated ox, is also interesting, as 
it may be considered an additional evidence of the early inha- 
. bitants of this country having tamed an original native breed, 
it being by no means likely that in this comparatively remote 
place the domesticated ox could have been derived from the 
cattle introduced, it may be, into the southern parts of Britain 
by the Roman colonist. 
Note.—Having, through, the kindness of Professor Fleming, 
examined a skull of the small sized ox of the Shetland Islands, I | 
have added some of its admeasurements for comparison with the 
smaller oxen referred to here, and in the previous communication — 
(page 122, vol. liv., of this Journal). In this skull we have the pro- 
minent edge in the middle of the forehead, from the depression rising 
between and rather above the orbits, the rounded protuberance in the 
central part of the supra-occipital ridge. The horn-cores, however, 
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