286 
PROCEEDINGS OE SOCIETIES. 
with those I have described. It is true that some specimens of the Bos 
longifrons have been discovered in fresh-water drifts in England; and 
Owen conjectures that it was the domesticated species in the British 
Isles anterior to the Homan invasion. But, acknowledging this, it still 
leaves Ireland the principal habitat of that race, and, so far as our in¬ 
vestigations have as yet gone, the sole habitat of the ancient short¬ 
horns. 
Let me add the following useful observations of my friend Mr. Barnes, 
of Moynalty, to whom the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of 
Ireland awarded a medal for his essay on the best breeds of horned cattle 
adapted to this country :—“ Eor feeding on a large scale in our rich low 
pastures, the best breed for Ireland is the short-horned and the cross 
from the short-horned; where food is abundant, and care and attention 
can be bestowed, they are suited to the small as well as the large farmer. 
.Eor hilly countries and inclement climates there is no 
breed of cattle comparable to the West Highland; and where that breed 
was established I would recommend, where practicable, that it should 
be crossed with the short-horn; but not with the intention that in such 
situations the West Highland should be increased by this cross breed : 
the produce of the cross should be sent forward to the rich pastures to feed. 
In the other hilly districts, where our native breeds are general, the 
West Highland bull should be introduced to improve them. By follow¬ 
ing this system we would establish breeds of cattle in Ireland suited to 
all situations in the island,—breeds which the most convincing trials 
have proved must answer all our purposes, and never can disappoint our 
expectations. The West Highlands are now being introduced into Con¬ 
nemara.” 
It is greatly to be regretted that the Royal Dublin Society does not 
possess a perfect collection of the heads of neat cattle, either as stuffed 
specimens or simple osteological examples, from which amateurs might 
learn how to distinguish those breeds which are annually exhibited at 
their great and yearly improving agricultural Cattle Shows,—the best 
evidence of the increasing prosperity of the country, even though it be a 
return in a large extent to its original, and, as I believe, its normal con¬ 
dition—that of a great grazing and cattle-feeding country, to which 
both its soil and climate so amply conduce. I have often spoken to 
members of the Dublin Society on this subject, and I feel that this 
allusion to it now will be received in the kindly spirit in which it is 
intended by those who have the management of the new Museum, and 
by the able Director, my friend Dr. Carte. 
In a strictly antiquarian sense, the propriety of retaining in our Mu¬ 
seum unmanufactured animal remains might be questioned; but, regard¬ 
ing the Academy’s collection in an ethnological point of view, it has 
been considered advisable to keep some of these zoological specimens as 
illustrations of the associations by which man was connected or sur¬ 
rounded in early times, the more particularly as most of them have been 
found along with some remains of the former inhabitants of this country. 
Should, however, the Academy think well of presenting the Royal Dublin 
