74 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
obtained in the southern counties of Scotland. Dr J. A. 
Smith informs me that about forty years ago many crania 
were discovered in these counties by the diggers for marl. 
Mr Parkinson also, in his " Organic Remains/'* states that 
he has in his possession specimens of Bovine Fossils obtained 
in Dumfriesshire. Professor Owen is of opinion that the Bos 
primigenius " maintained its ground longest in Scotland before 
its final extinction." This opinion is founded on the very 
recent character of the osseous substance. 
It is probable that the femur, scapula, humerus, rib, and 
vertebra, were found in the same deposit, and along with the 
least perfect of the above-described crania ; for they present 
in their deep brown colour corresponding appearances exter- 
nally. If such is the case, we shall be justified in regarding 
them as bones belonging to the Bos primigenius. On con- 
trasting them with the corresponding bones of the modern 
Bos inhabiting this country, I find that they present the 
same anatomical characters, only on a much larger scale, on 
account of their greater size, This is seen especially in the 
spines, trochanters, tuberosities, and other ridges and promi- 
nences for the attachment of muscles and ligaments, which 
are all developed in an exaggerated form, and indicate most 
prominently what the great muscular development of the 
animal must have been. These bones are all in an admirable 
state of preservation, the osseous characters being distinctly 
marked, and the various articular surfaces smooth, and pre- 
senting their divisions into distinct facets as clearly as in the 
recent bones. As a means of arriving at a proper estimate of 
the great size of these bones when contrasted with those of 
the common ox, I subjoin certain comparative measurements 
which I have made, premising that the bones of the common 
ox which I have taken, although obtained from a young speci- 
men in which the epiphyses are only partially united to the 
shafts by ossification, have yet, from their size, evidently be- 
longed to an animal of a large breed. The fossil bones, on 
the other hand, have all belonged to an adult animal, for the 
epiphyses are completely ossified to the shafts. 
* Vol. iii. 
