Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/33

 at their upper part." McKenny Hughes, also from British and Irish skeletons, says that Bos longifrons was a very small animal; probably not larger than a Kerry cow. It was remarkable for the height of its forehead above its orbits, for its strongly developed occipital region, and its small horns curved inward and forward."

There have also been speculations as to the colours of both these ancient oxen, but in neither case have they been based upon sure foundations. As regards Bos primigenius, the foundations were absolutely unsafe, for Caesar's hint is of no value, even if we knew the colour that was in his mind when he wrote of the Uri that "in kind, colour, and shape they are bulls "; nor can the colour of an animal so long extinct be inferred from the great variety among the larger European breeds of the present day, were it even clear that these are the descendants of Bos primigenius. As to the colour of the pre-historic Bos longifrons, speculators are upon much safer ground, since many of his descendants are still alive. But there is always the difficulty of eliminating the colours of intruding races, or, of intruding breeds, in the case of some particular branch of the Bos longifrons race. Werner, who had the continental Bos longifrons chiefly in his mind, "describes the