writes[1] that "This small but ancient species or variety of ox belongs, like our present cattle, to the subgenus Bos, as is shown by the form of the forehead, and by the origin of the horns from the extremities of the occipital ridge; but it differs from the contemporary Bos primigenius, not only by its great inferiority of size, being smaller than the ordinary breeds of domestic cattle, but also by the horns being proportionally
.png) | ||
| Bos longifrons, from Ireland | ||
| [From Owen. | ||
much smaller and shorter, as well as differently directed, and by the forehead being less concave. It is indeed, usually flat; and the frontal bones extend further beyond the orbits, before they join the nasal bones, than in Bos primigenius. The horn-cores of the Bos longifrons describe a single short curve outwards and forwards in the plane of the forehead, rarely rising above that plane, more rarely sinking below it: the cores have a very rugged exterior, and are usually a little flattened
- ↑ "British Fossil Mammals and Birds," p. 510.
