Delineations of the Ox Tribe Part 13

Upon a close comparison of these two breeds, there appears not to be so much difference between the Highland cattle and the cattle of Chillingham as there is between any two breeds or varieties of British cattle. Indeed so great is the similarity, that the Kyloe appears to be only a black variety of the Chillingham Ox, and the Chillingham Ox only a white variety of the Kyloe.

Dr. Anderson speaks of having seen a kind of Highland cattle which had a mane on the top of the head, of considerable length, and a tuft between the horns that nearly covered the eyes, giving them a fierce and savage aspect. He likewise mentions another kind which have hair of a pale lead colour, very beautiful in its appearance, and in its quality as glossy and soft as silk.

The Kyloe Oxen are natives of the Western Highlands and Isles, and are commonly called the Argyles.h.i.+re breed, or the breed of the Isle of Skie, one of the islands attached to the county of Argyle. They are generally of a dark brown colour, or black, though sometimes brindled.

The Cows of the Isle of Skie (as is recorded by Martin, in his 'Description of the Western Islands of Scotland,') are exposed to the rigour of the coldest seasons, and become mere skeletons in the spring, many of them not being able to rise from the ground without help; but they recover as the season becomes more favorable, and the gra.s.s grows up; then they acquire new beef, which is both sweet and tender; the fat and lean is not so much separated in them as in other cows, but as it were larded, which renders it very agreeable to the taste. A cow in this isle may be twelve years old, when at the same time its beef is not above four, five, or six months old.

TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF VERTEBRae IN THE VARIOUS SPECIES OF THE GENUS BOS.

Cerv. Dors. Lumb. Sacr. Caud. Total.

American Bison 7 14 5 5 12+ European Bison, or Aurochs 7 14 5 5 19 50 Yak 7 14 5 5 14 45 Gayal (Domestic) 7 14 5 5 16 47 Gayal (a.s.seel). Gyall Jungli Gau Italian Buffalo. Indian Buffalo. Skeleton of Buffalo in Surg. Coll. (locality unknown) 7 13 6 5 16 47 Gaur 7 13 6 5 19 50 Domestic Ox 7 13 6 5 21 52 Condore Buffalo Manilla Buffalo 7 13 6 Pega.s.se Arnee Cape Buffalo 7 13 6 4 19 49 Zamouse (_Bos_ _Brachyceros_) 7 13 6 4 20 50 Banteng of Java (_Bos Bantinger_) 7 13 6 4 18 48 Zebu, or Brahmin Ox 7 13 6 4 18 48 Galla Ox. Backeley (_Caffraria_). Musk Ox

The osteological details in the above Table (except those of the Yak, which are given on the authority of Pallas) are from the Author's own observations.

TABLE OF THE PERIODS OF GESTATION OF THE VARIOUS SPECIES OF THE GENUS BOS.

Periods American Bison. 270 days.--Zool. Proc., 1849.

European Bison. Between 9 and 10 months.

Gayal (Domestic) Over 10 months Gyall 11 months Indian Buffalo 10 months 10 days.

Gaur 12 months Domestic Ox. 270 days Manilla Buffalo. 340 days Arnee 12 months Cape Buffalo 12 months Zebu, or Brahmin Cow 300 days Musk Ox 9 months

To supply the deficiencies in the foregoing Tables, the results of original observations are respectfully solicited. Address the Author or Publisher.

NOTE ON THE AMERICAN BISON.

It was Cuvier, I believe, who first made the statement, that the American Bison is furnished with _fifteen_ pairs of ribs. In this particular he has been implicitly followed by every subsequent writer on the subject. Not being able to refer to a skeleton, and, moreover, never suspecting any inaccuracy in the statement, I followed the received account. But since this work has gone to press, I have had the opportunity of examining two skeletons, by which I find that--

_The American Bison has only_ FOURTEEN _pairs of ribs._

I have, therefore, in the "Table of the Number of Vertebrae," (see p.

152,) set this species down as possessing only that number.

Of the two skeletons referred to (both of which are now in the British Museum), one is from a female Bison, some years a living resident in the Zoological Gardens; and the other is from a male, late in the possession of the Earl of Derby, at Knowsley, in Lancas.h.i.+re.

A corroborative circ.u.mstance (amounting, indeed, to a complete proof of the accuracy of these observations,) is presented by the fact, that, in both the cases _the number of lumbar vertebrae is precisely_ FIVE; thus making the true vertebrae to consist of nineteen, which Professor Owen[E]

has shown to be the invariable number possessed by all ruminants.

FOOTNOTES:

[E] See, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Professor Owen's 'Account of his Dissection of the Aurochs.'

APPENDIX

THE FREE MARTIN.

Cows usually bring forth but one calf at a birth; occasionally, however, they produce twins. John Hunter, in his 'Observations on the Animal Economy,' says: "It is a fact known, and I believe almost universally understood, that when a cow brings forth two calves, one of them a bull-calf, and the other to appearance a cow, that the cow-calf is unfit for propagation; but the bull-calf grows up into a very proper bull.

Such a cow-calf is called, in this country, a FREE MARTIN, and is commonly as well known among the farmers as either cow or bull. It has all the external marks of a cow-calf, namely, the teats, and the external female parts, called by farmers the bearing. It does not show the least inclination for the bull, nor does the bull ever take the least notice of it. In form it very much resembles the Ox, or spayed heifer, being considerably larger than either the bull or the cow, having the horns very similar to the horns of an Ox. The bellow of the Free Martin is similar to that of an Ox, having more resemblance to that of the cow than that of the bull."

Free Martins are very much disposed to grow fat with good food. The flesh, like that of the Ox or spayed heifer, is generally much finer in the fibre than either the bull or cow; is even supposed to exceed that of the Ox and heifer in delicacy of flavour, and bears a higher price at market. However this superiority of the flavour does not appear to be universal, for Mr. Hunter was informed of a case which occurred in Berks.h.i.+re, in which the flesh of a Free Martin turned out nearly as bad as bull beef. This circ.u.mstance probably arose from the animal having more the properties of a bull than a cow.

Mr. Hunter, having had many opportunities of dissecting Free Martins, has satisfactorily shown that their incapacity to breed, and all their other peculiarities, result from their having the generative organs of both s.e.xes combined, in a more or less imperfect state of development, in some cases the organs of the male preponderating, in others those of the female.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The above, which is copied from an engraving in Hunter's work on the 'Animal Economy,' is a representation of a Free Martin, five years old; it shows the external form of that animal, which is neither like the bull nor cow, but resembling the Ox or spayed heifer.

Although, as Hunter observes, "it is almost universally understood, that when a cow brings forth two calves, one of them a bull-calf, and the other to appearance a cow, that the cow-calf is unfit for propagation,"

it is by no means universally the fact, as instances of such twins breeding were known even in Hunter's time, and have been witnessed more recently. The following is recorded in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. History,'

and occurred a few years previous to 1826: Jos. Holroyd, of Withers, near Leeds, had a cow which calved twins, a bull-calf and a cow-calf. As popular opinion was against the cow-calf breeding, it being considered a Free Martin, Mr. Holroyd was determined to make an experiment of them, and reared them together. They copulated, and in due time the heifer brought forth a bull-calf, and she regularly had calves for six or seven years afterwards.

"If," says Hunter, "there are such deviations as of twins being perfect male and female, why should there not be, on the other hand, an hermaphrodite, produced singly, as in other animals? I had the examination of one which seemed, upon the strictest inquiry, to have been a single calf; and I am the more inclined to think this true, from having found a number of hermaphrodites among black cattle, without the circ.u.mstance of their birth being ascertained."

If Hunter had carried this reasoning a little further, he might have asked,--Why should there not be a Free Martin, or hermaphrodite, produced in the case of twins, when they are both apparently males, or both apparently females? Had he done this, he would not, probably, have made the following observation: "I need hardly observe, that if a cow has twins, and they are both bull-calves, they are in every respect perfect bulls; or if they are both cow-calves, they are perfect cows."

What is this but saying that a bull-calf is a bull-calf, and a cow-calf is a cow-calf? For a Free Martin, or hermaphrodite, is not, in any case, either a bull or a cow.

There does not appear to be anything known of the peculiar circ.u.mstances under which, what is termed a Free Martin is produced.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Skull of Domestic Ox.]

The most general observation that can be made on the subject appears to be, that cows sometimes produce calves, which, by reason of their imperfectly developed generative system, are incapable of procreating.

THE SHORT-NOSED OX.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Skull of short-nosed Ox of the Pampas.]

The common Ox, originally taken over to America by the early Spanish settlers, now runs wild in immense herds on the Pampas, where it is hunted and slain for its hide. Some idea may be formed of the immensity of these herds, from the circ.u.mstance that nearly a million of hides are annually exported from Buenos Ayres and Monte Video to Europe.

Some of the herds in these wild regions have undergone a most singular modification of the cranium, consisting in a shortening of the nasal bones, together with the superior and inferior maxillaries. There is a skull of this variety in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, of which the above is a sketch.

ON THE UTILITY OF THE OX TRIBE TO MANKIND.

How eminently serviceable to man these animals are, is shown in the following table, in which are set forth the most important uses to which their various parts are applied: