Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/38

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26
EVOLUTION OF BRITISH CATTLE
Romano-British skull, with upturning horn-cores, from Reach Fen, Cambridge.
[From McKenny Hughes.

The first to trace the white park cattle and white domestic cattle back to their source was Professor McKenny Hughes, of Cambridge.[1] In the course of excavations "over areas long occupied by the Romans" he found a change coming over the remains of the cattle deposited there. He found evidence of a new breed mingling with the old. "The new breed is larger, the horn-cores are stouter in proportion to their length, and, starting from the side of the head, have a tendency outward and upward, instead of having the strong forward curve of Bos longifrons. All intermediate sizes and shapes are found, from the small native to the new improved breed. … The specimen I have figured"—the skull figured here—"was found in the peat near Reach Lode,

  1. See work already quoted.