dered
as distinct species. When we consider the number of points in external
structure and habits, independently of their important osteological
differences, in which they differ from each other; and that many of these
points are not likely to have been affected by domestication, there can
hardly be a doubt, notwithstanding the adverse opinion of some naturalists,
that the humped and non-humped cattle must be ranked as specifically
distinct.

The European breeds of humpless cattle are numerous. Professor Low
enumerates 19 British breeds, only a few of which are identical with those
on the Continent. Even the small Channel islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and
Alderney, possess their own sub-breeds;[177] and these again differ from
the cattle of the other British islands, such as Anglesea, and the western
isles of Scotland. Desmarest, who paid attention to the subject, describes
15 French races, excluding sub-varieties and those imported from other
countries. In other parts of Europe there are several distinct races, such
as the pale-coloured Hungarian cattle, with their light and free step, and
their enormous horns sometimes measuring above five feet from tip to
tip:[178] the Podolian cattle are remarkable from the height of their
fore-quarters. In the most recent work on Cattle,[179] engravings are given
of fifty-five European breeds; it is, however, probable that several of
these differ very little from each other, or are merely synonyms. It must
not be supposed that numerous breeds of cattle exist only in long-civilized
countries, for we shall presently see that several kinds are kept by the
savages of Southern Africa.

With respect to the parentage of the several European breeds, we
already know much from Nilsson's Memoir,[180] and more especially from
Ruetimeyer's 'Pfahlbauten' and succeeding works. Two or three species or
forms of {81} Bos, closely allied to still living domestic races, have
been found fossil in the more recent tertiary deposits of Europe.
Following Ruetimeyer, we have:--

_Bos primigenius._--This magnificent, well-known species was
domesticated in Switzerland during the Neolithic period; even at this
early period it varied a little, having apparently been crossed with
other races. Some of the larger races on the Continent, as the
Friesland, &c., and the Pembroke race in England, closely resemble in
essential structure _B. primigenius_, and no doubt are