OF CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
269 
P t 
head. This does not appear to be a very scientific mode of pro¬ 
ceeding, for the thin part runs but a little way; and then there is 
considerable thickness of bone before we arrive at the membrane of 
the sinuses w r ithin. A poultice or a fomentation could hardly have 
much effect over so small a space, and through the horn and bone. 
The shape of the horn is one and not the least distinguishing 
characteristic of the different breeds of cattle. Thus we have 
the coarse hair, the large hoof, the depth of fore quarter, and 
the long spreading horn of the Lancashire. The Cheshire and 
the Gloucestershire are but varieties and no improvements of the 
Lancashire. The Leicestershire, with its thinner skin, and 
rounder form, and smaller bone, betrays the same origin ; the 
little Kyloes seem to be a branch of the same race. Of the short 
horns there are numerous and valuable families in the York¬ 
shire, the Durham, the Northumberland, and the Holderness; 
the diminutive Scottish runt, and the little Alderney, with its 
crumpled horn: while the Devonshire with its red colour, and 
thin neck, and clean head, and wide hips, but narrow chine, and 
too flat ribs; and the somewhat larger Sussex, and the still 
bulkier Herefordshire, have horns of an intermediate length. 
Then there are the polled cattle of many a varying form .and 
character, from the Suffolk dun, with its profusion of milk, to 
the stented Galloway, the parent perhaps of the breed, and, 
although little, good as a milker and for the butcher too. 
The horns vary also with the sex—the short, straight, strong 
horn of the bull; the longer, weaker, and branching horn of the 
ox, and that varying so much with the period of castration ; and 
the more delicate and variously curved horn of the cow, are 
objects of every day’s observation : but the consideration of this 
belongs more properly to the generative system. 
The horn is to a certain degree indicative of the age. At three 
years old the tip of the horn drops off, and is not afterwards re¬ 
newed ; and about the same time, a ridge or ring of thicker horn, 
seeming to mark the different layers of the horn, is seen a little 
above the root; and a new one appears on each succeeding year: 
so that if you count these ridges or rings, and add two to them, 
you will have the age of the beast. These rings, however, are 
not to be traced in every beast—they sometimes present a con¬ 
fused character, and seem to run into one another; and it is very 
easy for the dishonest chapman to rasp off one or two, and give 
a false appearance of youth. We find in the teeth more satis¬ 
factory marks of the age, and w here no roguery can lead us astray. 
On account of the vast extent of cavity from the communica¬ 
tion between all the partitions of the sinus, the ox occasionally 
. suffers much from the larva of a species of fly which creeps up the 
