found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 131 



and flesh" diet, — derived of course from their domesticated 

 cattle. Considerations such as these would make me rather 

 agree with Professor Owen's other remarks, when, treating 

 of the Bos longifrons, he says, " that if it still be contended 

 that the natives of Britain, or any part of them, obtained 

 their cattle by taming a primitive breed, this small-sized, origi- 

 nal variety of ox, is most likely to have furnished the source." 

 Now, I am inclined to think that the several instances where 

 bones of this animal have been found along with the ancient 

 works of man, as mentioned by Professor Owen, as well as 

 in the present case, are, in all probability, proofs of the early 

 domesticated state of an ox identical with the B. longifrons ; 

 which, as already mentioned, had existed in this country 

 from the times of the newer pliocene period. 



And in support of the opinion of the Bos longifrons being 

 the true origin of our domesticated cattle, or at least as shew- 

 ing its more general resemblance to them, I may extract one 

 or two statements from the paper of Professor Nilsson already 

 referred to ; for example, when describing the Bos frontosus, 

 he says, " It seems to have been about the size of our common 

 cow, from which, however, in form it totally differs." And in 

 the Bos longifrons, as already noticed, " the form of the tem- 

 poral cavity is behind transverse-obtuse, before oblique- 

 pointed ; its hinder part (to the angle above the joint of the 

 under jaws) only one-fourth broader than the fore part. 

 Herein it resembles the tame ox, but differs visibly from the 

 B. frontosus, in which the back part is twice as broad as 

 the forepart, and also from the Urus." And he also states 

 that in the Urus the nasal bones are five times as long as 

 broad ; in the B. longifrons they are nearly six ; while in the 

 domestic ox they are six-and-a-half times as long as broad. 



It is curious to notice the fact, that the wilder districts of 

 Britain, as the extremity of Devon and Cornwall for ex- 

 ample, and the mountainous districts of Wales, as well as 

 our own rugged land, seem all, according to Mr Youatt, 

 to have been originally stocked with cattle having even yet 

 as it were a general family likeness, with moderate sized 

 horns, and of no great general bulk ; being the very localities, 

 as Professor Owen well remarks, where the natives would 



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