History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

24 MAMMALIA. PECORA. Bos.cap. 3.), about which period it probably became extinct, although the credulousBoece states that they were found in plenty so late as the 15th century.It was termed by the Welsh in the 9th century (" Leges Wallicse," iii. 1 1. 12.)Llosdlydan, and in the Gaelic it is still termed, from tradition, Losleathen. SeeMr Neill's valuable " Account of some fossil remains of the Beaver found inPerthshire and Berwickshire," Wern. Mem. iii. p. 207. The bones of thisspecies occur in beds of marl under peat-moss, as quoted by Mr Neill ;andin Berkshire, Phil. Trans. 1757, p. 112-The Guinea pig (Cavia Cobaya), has been domesticated in the belief thatits smell will expel rats. It is a native of Brazil, and may be regarded as auseless addition to our stock of quadrupeds.PECORA.I. Horns permanent, furnished internally with an osseouscore.Gen. XXII. BOS. Ox.— Horns lateral at their origin, butafterwards recurved, smooth.36. B. Taurus. Common Ox.— Front flat, longer thanbroad.Horns proceeding from the extremities of the occipitalridge.The cow goes with young nine months, and is capable of breeding the secondyear. Milk teeth begin to shed about the tenth month. Numerous varietiesexist at present in a domesticated state, differing in colour and shape,and in the form or absence of their horns. Those in the more fertile districtsare the largest;those frequenting mountainous districts with scanty pasturesare the smallest, with the fore-quarters proportionally larger,as in Zetland.Several varieties, if not species, of oxen appear to have occupied the BritishIsland, in a wild state, at no very remote period. Lesley (" De Origine,moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum," Rome 1078) mentions herds of" Vacccenon cimres" (p. 10.), which frequented the mountainous districts of Argyleand Ross. These probably were the parent stock of our domesticated varieties,which, with but little care, are reared in the remoter districts.The " boves sylvestres" of Lesley (p. 19.), which were of a white colour, possessed,as he states, "jubam densam, ac dimissam instar leonis ;" while SirRobert Sibbald says, that, in his day, they did not differ in form from thecommon kind. The remains, however, of this white breed, with the muzzleand ears black, may be found mixed occasionally in our domestic kind. In apure state, they are preserved in the parks of a few of the nobility. Theremains of oxen, which occur in marl-pits in this country, seem all to belongto the speciestaurus. Many of the skulls, however, exhibit dimensions superiorto those of the largest domesticated kinds. A skull in my possessionmeasures 27 § inches in length, 9 inches between the horns, and 114 inchesacross at the orbits.The manes, which several authors state to have characterised the wild oxenof this country, and their remarkable ferocity, probably had a reference tothe Bos Urus, a species once indigenous, as attested by the occurrence of itsremains in the recent strata. A skull of this species, found by Mr Warburton,at Walton in Essex, forms a part of the Collection of the Geological Societyof London, and another skull found at Woolwich, exists in the Museumof the Royal College of Surgeons, London. This species differs remarkablyfrom the Bos Taurus, in the front being swollen, broader than long, the horns