occasionally appears in European cattle; but he is mistaken, as we shall
hereafter see, in supposing that these cattle do not form a distinct race.
Prof. Wyman, of Cambridge, United States, informs me that the common cod-
fish presents a similar monstrosity, called by the fishermen "bull-dog
cod." Prof. Wyman also concluded, after making numerous inquiries in La
Plata, that the niata cattle transmit their peculiarities or form a race.)
Rutimeyer believes that these cattle belong to the primigenius type. (3/65
'Ueber Art des zahmen Europ. Rindes' 1866 s. 28.) The forehead is very
short and broad, with the nasal end of the skull, together with the whole
plane of the upper molar-teeth, curved upwards. The lower jaw projects
beyond the upper, and has a corresponding upward curvature. It is an
interesting fact that an almost similar confirmation characterizes, as I am
informed by Dr. Falconer, the extinct and gigantic Sivatherium of India,
and is not known in any other ruminant. The upper lip is much drawn back,
the nostrils are seated high up and are widely open, the eyes project
outwards, and the horns are large. In walking the head is carried low, and
the neck is short. The hind legs appear to be longer, compared with the
front legs, than is usual. The exposed incisor teeth, the short head and
upturned nostrils, give these cattle the most ludicrous, self-confident air
of defiance. The skull which I presented to the College of Surgeons has
been thus described by Professor Owen (3/66. 'Descriptive Cat. of Ost.
Collect. of College of Surgeons' 1853 page 624. Vasey in his 'Delineations
of the Ox-tribe' has given a figure of this skull; and I sent a photograph
of it to Prof. Rutimeyer.) "It is remarkable from the stunted development
of the nasals, premaxillaries, and fore-part of the lower jaw, which is
unusually curved upwards to come into contact with the premaxillaries. The
nasal bones are about one-third the ordinary length, but retain almost
their normal breadth. The triangular vacuity is left between them, the
frontal and lachrymal, which latter bone articulates with the premaxillary,
and thus excludes the maxillary from any junction with the nasal." So that