The Descent of Man

subject. H. von Nathusius ('Viehzucht,' 1872, p.
64) says that the horns of sheep castrated at an
early period, either altogether disappear or
remain as mere rudiments; but I do not know
whether he refers to merinos or to ordinary
breeds.) On the Guinea coast there is a breed in
which the females never bear horns, and, as Mr.
Winwood Reade informs me, the rams after
castration are quite destitute of them. With cattle,
the horns of the males are much altered by
castration; for instead of being short and thick,
they become longer than those of the cow, but
otherwise resemble them. The Antilope bezoartica
offers a somewhat analogous case: the males
have long straight spiral horns, nearly parallel
to each other, and directed backwards; the
females occasionally bear horns, but these
when present are of a very different shape, for
they are not spiral, and spreading widely, bend
round with the points forwards. Now it is a
remarkable fact that, in the castrated male, as
Mr. Blyth informs me, the horns are of the same