438 
On the Inheritance of Coat-Colour in Cattle 
the Low Countries and Holstein in later mediaeval times. McKenny Hughes 
says that the Durham and modern shorthorns belong to a much later period 
and fall outside his enquiry. Thus writings on the subject do not give us very 
definite results for our present purposes. We further appealed to Professor James 
Wilson, of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, who is an authority on the 
matter, and who most kindly provided us with the following brief statement : 
(a) The first cattle in Britain were of a large type. Bos primigenius, which 
became extinct here in the stone age, although possibly surviving later on the 
Continent. If they had anything to do with existing British cattle, which is 
extremely doubtful, the relationsliip is very remote and is only to be traced 
through later importations from the Continent. 
{h) The next type to be noted in Britain is the Celtic shorthorn. Bos longi- 
frons, a much smaller animal. Patches of hair have been found in the caves, and 
these are said to be of a dark colour. Professor Wilson is strongly of opinion that 
B. longifrons was mainly black. It has been said to be red or black. 
(c) The next invasion, that of the Romans, brought the Roman white cattle, 
which probably had black markings. Tlie Romans formed joint settlements with 
the British, and a Romano-British cattle resulted in the neighbourhood of Roman 
settlements, from crossing the Roman and Celtic types. 
(d) In the next place we have a Saxon invasion, bringing with it Saxon 
cattle. There was probably some mixture of breeds on the Celtic and Saxon 
frontiers, but generally speaking Saxon cattle occupied the parts from which the 
Romano-British population had been expelled. These cattle were red. 
(e) Following on the Anglo-Saxon was a Dutch invasion of cattle into the 
east of England. By Dutch we understand from the " Low Countries." This 
invasion began in the middle ages and continued till a century ago, and again 
involved a certain amount of mixture. The Dutch cattle were probably "flecked," 
the flecking being white with black, red, or brown. The Englishman developing 
a prejudice against black, we may suppose the reddish mixture to remain, and to 
have become the l)asis of roan. 
Before, therefore, the beginning of pedigree cattle-breeding, or earlier in the 
sixteenth century say, we should expect a distribution of cattle races much as 
follows : 
Wales and Scotland, Celtic or black cattle, with some of Roman descent and 
perhaps some whole reds. 
Midland England, very mixed cattle, compounded of the following races in 
order : Celtic, Roman, Saxon and Dutch. The colours were black, white with 
black or brown points, red and flecked. Round the edges of the country the 
breeds were comparatively pure, but in the Midlands, where they all met, they 
were a mixture ; the Romano-Celtic element probably prevailing. 
Southern England, Anglo-Saxon, red. 
Eastern England, Dutch cattle, flecked or roan. 
