THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE <>X. 
311 
and others; viz., that the buffalo and the common cow breed to- 
gether, and that their progeny are prolific. Again ; if the argu- 
ment adduced by Cuvier is a valid one respecting the number of 
ribs in the auroch and the urus, the former having fourteen ribs 
and the ox only thirteen, by the same rule, the German and 
American buffaloes are proved to be distinct species, since the 
latter species have fifteen ribs on each side. Yet the American 
bison has many points of similarity with the German auroch. 
Both have the huge head and the lengthened spinous process of 
the vertebrae, and both have the brawny muscles attached to 
them fitted to support and wield it. In both we have the coni- 
cal hump between the shoulders as a natural consequence, and 
the shaggy mane in all seasons ; and each presents a model of 
brute force formed to push and throw down. 
We have now given the different opinions on this interesting 
subject ; and although there are great names — by way of au- 
thority — in favour of the domesticated ox being a distinct species 
from the buffalo, yet the immense lapse of time which must have 
occurred since the first creation of the bovine race, and the altera- 
tion which they must have undergone in the different localities 
in which they have resided are alone sufficient to produce the 
most extraordinary changes. 
In all latitudes — whether on the land or on the sea — like causes 
produce like effects. Some animals there are confined to parti- 
cular localities, but others are universally diffused, maintaining 
certain forms and qualities under every latitude, their peculiar 
habits and organization adapting them to every variety of clime. 
With few exceptions, however, locality has a marked and deter- 
minate influence on the organic structure, in its quantities and 
qualities, such almost invariably depending on food and tem- 
perature. As an example, there are numerous molluscous orders 
that attain great size and beauty in tropical waters, but, removed 
thence into colder seas, they wpuld soon perish, or otherwise their 
progeny would rapidly degenerate — the organic action, and the 
powers of secreting lime and other products, being less sensibly 
developed. Who for a moment would think of transplanting the 
pearl oyster to the bed of the German ocean ? Removed fron\its 
native element, it might, perchance, live ; but its progeny would be 
of diminished size, and in the loss of action their splendid colours 
would be lost. Again ; the balani, forming vast aggregate masses 
on the coast of Peru, are a gigantic species, compared with the 
like genera existing in the seas of Europe, where they exist in 
small groups and families. 
The coral fish, and other fish of surpassing beauty, are seldom 
seen beyond latitude thirty degrees and thirty-five degrees north 
