608 
YERTEBRATA. 
The points of a good ox may be thus stated : the head should be long, the muzzle fine ; the 
countenance calm and quiet ; the horns fine ; the neck light ; the breast wide ; the shoulders 
moderately broad; the fore flank well filled up; the girth, behind the shoulders, deep; the back 
straight, wide, and flat ; the ribs broad ; the belly well kept in, and not sinking low ; the hind- 
quarters — that is, from the hips to the extremity of the rump — long and straight ; the legs 
straight, clean, and fine-boned, and when the animal is in high condition, the skin is of a rich 
and silky appearance. 
The natural duration of life with the Ox and Cow* is upward of twenty years ; the latter is 
useful for milk nearly to that age ; the former loses his vigor at an earlier period. 
Fossil Bovina. — The remains of deer and oxen occur abundantly in the tertiary beds, with ex- 
tinct species of existing genera of Pachydermata, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, 
and horse, and the extinct genera of the mastodon and large carnivora,as the tiger, hyena, and bear. 
The most interesting of these is the Bos jorimigenius, to which we have already alluded. This ani- 
mal must have been a third larger than any existing bovine species, but the structure so closely re- 
sembles that of the domestic ox that Cuvier considered it to have been the original stock whence 
this proceeded. This opinion is now generally discredited, and the Bos primigenius is considered 
a distinct species. Other species of fossil ox found in Europe and America are the Bos largifrons, 
Bos troccocerus, Bos homhifrons, &c., &c. At the southern foot of the Himalaya Mountains 
abundant remains of bovine animals are found, mixed with those of the mastodon, elephant, rhi- 
noceros, hippopotamus, hog, horse, elk, deer, crocodile, gavial, animals of the canine and feline 
families, &c., &c. 
THE SYRIAN OX. 
*In England the following terms are applied to cattle of difierent ages and conditions : a young emascnlated male, 
after the first year, is called a Sii/i^h; when a year older, a Stot or Steer: at five years old, an Ox: a female, after the 
first year, is called a Heifer or Quey ; some coarse and sturdy "Welsh and Scotch cattle are called Bunts. Bullock is 
the general term for full-grown male cattle, fat or lean. 
