( 351 ) 
XXIII. — Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. By James Mac- 
DONALD, Editor 'Irish Farmers' Gazette,' Dublin, 
I. — OiuGiN AND Early History. 
It would serve no good end to revive the discussion as to the 
origin of our domesticated cattle. For all practical purposes it 
matters little whether the multitude of widely different varieties, 
of cattle to be found thioughout Europe at the present day can 
really claim one common origin in the ancient Bos longifrons^ 
or whether they trace back both to the Bos longifrons and the 
Bos urus. To some minds the idea seems incomprehensible 
that the shaggy, muscular, fierce-looking West Highlander and 
the thin, lanky, fawn-like Jersey had originally sprung from the 
same stock. Natural history, however, supplies many reliable 
instances of sister currents diverging far more widely than these 
have diverged. Great as are the varieties of form, colour, and 
characteristic presented by the domesticated cattle of Europe^ 
there is little doubt that they have been brought about entirely 
by differences in climate, food, shelter, systems and accidents 
(or " spontaneous variation ") in breeding, and by other local 
and exceptional influences. 
Authorities agree in stating that those ancient cattle from 
which the existing stock have been descended were all provided 
with horns. The breeds of Polled Cattle which we now posses* 
must therefore be regarded as forming a distinct departure from 
the ancient order of things. As to when and how that departure 
may have been effected one can merely conjecture. Quite 
probably a polled strain sprang up by accident, or by what 
Darwin says we in our ignorance may call " spontaneous varia- 
tion." It is sometimes asserted that all the different British 
polled breeds are descended from one offshoot from the parent- 
stem ; but whether that is actually the case or whether they are 
the result of not one, but several instances of accidental breeding 
or " spontaneous variation," we have no reliable means of 
knowing. This much, however, we do know, that from time 
immemorial there have been throughout the British Isles several 
varieties of polled cattle, all having many points in common, 
but each presenting certain distinct characteristics peculiarly its 
own. These polled varieties are now grouped in three well- 
known breeds, — the Norfolk and Suffolk, the Galloway, and the 
Aberdeen or Angus. The last of these three forms the subject 
of this paper. 
The improved Polled Aberdeen or Angus cattle are the lineal 
descendants of the ancient polled cattle of the north-east of 
