Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/360

334 Boyd Dawkins on "The Chartley White Cattle." The Professor's opinion as to the origin of these cattle is not in unison with the writer of the previously mentioned memoir, who discarded the conclusions of Rutimeyer, and accepted those of Prof. McKenny Hughes. Prof. Dawkins considers that the breed of these large White Cattle was "domesticated on the Continent, as Rütimeyer has shown, in the Neolithic age, and occurs in the refuse-heaps accumulated round the pile-dwellings in Switzerland. It is descended from the great wild Urus, which abounded in the forests of the Continent in pre-historic times, and lingered in Europe as far down as the time of Charles the Great. It has nothing to do with the large fawn-coloured cattle of Italy, as suggested by Prof. McKenna Hughes. These are derived from the east, and probably from Egypt. This larger breed spread over the Continent of Europe through the Pre-historic and Early Historic period, and became defined from all others by its white colour and red or black ears, not merely in the British Isles, but also in Spain."

The ultimate conclusions are:—

"1. That the beautiful Chartley breed was originally introduced into this country along with the closely allied breeds of Chillingham and other places, in a domesticated condition, from the Continent, where they had been carefully selected by man during long ages.

"2. That they were introduced about the time of the English or Danish conquests.

"3. And, lastly, that the shyness and wildness of the breed is due to the fact of their never having been confined in small enclosures, where they would come into close contact with man."

Linnean Society's Journal—Zoology—contains a paper, read last December, by Mr. H.J. Elwes, "On the Zoology and Botany of the Altai Mountains," the results of a journey made in that region last summer. Mr. Elwes remarks that the Altai Mountains are almost unknown to English naturalists, and practically less known to naturalists as a whole than many parts of Central Africa. So far as he was aware, "the only travellers who have written on the natural history of the country are Pallas, whose great work is well known, though now rather out of date; Ledebour and Bunge, who sixty years ago compiled an excellent account of the botany of the Altai; Helmersen, who has described the geology of the country; and Tchihatcheff, a well-known Russian traveller, who published an account of his travels, in French, in 1852."

As regards the Mammalia, we learn that the Ibex of the Altai (Capra sibirica, Pallas), the head and horns of which were exhibited, is nearly allied to the Himalayan Ibex, and is common in some parts of the moun-