before the common cattle. This strikes me as a good illustration of how
little we are able to judge from the ordinary habits of an animal, on what
circumstances, occurring only at long intervals of time, its rarity or
extinction may depend. It shows us, also, how natural selection would have
determined the rejection of the niata modification had it arisen in a state
of nature.

Having described the semi-monstrous niata breed, I may allude to a white
bull, said to have been brought from Africa, which was exhibited in London
in 1829, and which has been well figured by Mr. Harvey. (3/67. Loudon's
'Magazine of Nat. Hist.' volume 1 1829 page 113. Separate figures are given
of the animal, its hoofs, eye, and dewlap.) It had a hump, and was
furnished with a mane. The dewlap was peculiar, being divided between its
fore-legs into parallel divisions. Its lateral hoofs were annually shed,
and grew to the length of five or six inches. The eye was very peculiar,
being remarkably prominent, and "resembled a cup and ball, thus enabling
the animal to see on all sides with equal ease; the pupil was small and
oval, or rather a parallelogram with the ends cut off, and lying
transversely across the ball." A new and strange breed might probably have
been formed by careful breeding and selection from this animal.

I have often speculated on the probable causes through which each separate
district in Great Britain came to possess in former times its own peculiar
breed of cattle; and the question is, perhaps, even more perplexing in the
case of Southern Africa. We now know that the differences may be in part
attributed to descent from distinct species; but this cause is far from
sufficient. Have the slight differences in climate and in the nature of the
pasture, in the different districts of Britain, directly induced
corresponding differences in the cattle? We have seen that the semi-wild
cattle in the several British parks are not identical in colouring or size,