494 
VEETEBRATA 
accustomed to the pursuit of this animal, sometimes turn its irritable disposition to good account ; 
for an expert hunter having provoked a bull to attack him, wheels round it more quickly than it 
can turn, and by repeated stabs in the belly puts an end to its life." 
We may here state that an animal called Takin, Budorcas tazicola, is found in the Hima- 
laya mountains, and is placed among the Bovina by Dr. J. E. Gray. The hair is harsh and 
short ; the tail hairy like that of the goat ; the head large and heavy ; the limbs short and 
straight ; the hoofs broad. Its habits are, however, little known, and its position is not defined. 
Subc/enus TAURUS. — Of this there is one species, the Domestic Ox ; the Bos domesticus 
and Bos taurus of Linnaeus ; Bmif of the French ; Stier and Ochs of the Germans — the most use- 
ful of all animals to man. Of its origin we have no record, and in attempting to discover its 
parent stock, we have even greater difficulties than those which beset us in tracing the parentage 
of other domestic animals ; for beside the various existing breeds of domestic cattle, there are 
several species of bovine animals which we have just described, analogous to them, and all of 
which, whether aurochs, bison, buffalo, yak, or musk-ox, will breed with them, and the offspring 
of all are more or less prolific. 
There is in these facts a wide range for discussion and dispute. Some have traced all the 
varieties of the modern ox — at least all the European varieties — to the aurochs, and that view has 
passed into a common opinion. Another idea has been that the Urus, spoken of by Caesar as 
inhabiting the Hyrcanian forests at the time of his invasion of Gaul — some half a century before the 
Christian era — was the true parent of our domestic cattle. As described by the great Roman 
THE CHILLINGHAM BULL. 
general this animal was of prodigious size and strength— at least one-third larger than our largest 
oxen, and at the same time of a fierce and formidable nature. It has ceased to exist in a wild 
state, but fossil bones are found abundantly in various parts of Europe, supposed to have belonged 
to this species, and to which geologists give the name of Bos primigenius. One thing further is 
maintained, which is, that the existing Scottish or Chillingham breed of Cattle are the true repre- 
sentatives of this formidable Urus : and as they are also manifestly* allied to our domestic varieties, 
