136 Notices of various Animal Remains 



Illustrata, sive Prodromus Historian Naturalis of Robert 

 Sibbald, M.D., published at Edinburgh in 1684, we find this 

 Scottish naturalist quoting from Jonston's work, referred to 

 above, adding, however, the following remarks : — " Qusequi- 

 dem ab Historicis nostris petita sunt, sed confirmatione egent. 

 In pluribus locis montana? partis Scotia? reperiuntur quidem 

 Boves feri, albi quoque : sed non ita truculently neque forma a 

 domesticis different. An jubati Bisontes nunc extent, nescio." 

 De Bisulcis Ruminantibus Cornigeris, p. 7. So that Sibbald 

 seems to doubt the existence of the so-called Bison Scoticus, 

 though he admits that white cattle, exactly however resem- 

 bling the domesticated breeds, and by no means so fierce and 

 savage as they are described, still run wild in some of the 

 mountainous districts of the country. The original source of 

 the whole statement being apparently the description given 

 by Boece, and repeated by Bishop Leslie, which I have already 

 taken the liberty of criticising, as being, in all probability, 

 a very exaggerated account. And moreover, if we search 

 still further back in the records of a much greater antiquity, 

 we find evidently the same kind of white cattle described in 

 such a way as seems to me to imply, without a doubt, their 

 thorough domestication. As in the " Leges Wallica?," of 

 " Howell Dda," the Welsh laws of King Howell the Good, 

 which date from about a.d. 942-3, or before the middle of 

 the tenth century, — vide Translation by Gul s . Wottonus, 

 London, 1730. We there find white cattle with red ears, in 

 all probability the same breed of cattle as those I have been 

 referring to, ordered to be paid as a compensation for offences 

 committed against the Princes of Wales — (vide Lib. 1, chap, 

 vi., p. 10-11 ) : "De solvenda Multa Regis. — Multa pro injuria 

 Begi Aberfravise illata hoc modo solvenda. Centum vaccas 

 pro qualibet centuria subditione ejus Reus sol vet, et cum 

 singulis centenis vaccis unum Taurum auribus rufis praeditum 

 cum Virga aurea ejusdem cum Rege longitudinis, magnitu- 

 dine digiti ejus minimi, et crassitudine unguis aratoris qui 

 per novem annos araverit. Aurum nemini debitur nisi Regi 

 Aberfravise." — " 3. Domini Dinevora? privilegium est acci- 

 pere pro compensatione injuria? sibi illata? vaccas alba* 

 aures rufas habentes, totidem quot ordine sibi succedentes 



