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I.—Note on the Discovery of Bos Primigenius in the Lower Boulder-clay of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Extract

It Will interest some of your readers to hear that remains of Bos primigenius have recently been obtained from the true till or lower Boulder-clay of Scotland. The specimens hitherto found appear to have come either from the fine Glacial brick-clays, which are posterior in date to the larger portion of our Boulder-clay, or from deposits of still later age. A few days ago I heard that the navvies employed in making the new “Crofthead and Kilmarnock Extension Railway” had come upon what was described to me as a “wounderful big bull's head.” I lost no time in visiting the locality, and saw the fossil in the possession of Mr. John Strain, C.E., who allowed me to examine it, and was afterwards kind enough to accompany me to the railway cutting in order to point out the exact spot from which the relic was taken. The skull is in rather an imperfect state, and only one of the horn-cores remains, the other having been broken off near the base. The perfect core measures 31 inches in length along the outer curve, and gives at its base a circumferences of 14 inches. The breadth of the forehead between the horns is 10 inches. From the character of the flat forehead, from the origin of the cores, and from the direction and curvature of the remaining one, there can be no doubt that the skull is that of Bos primigenius.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1868

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