The last point worth notice is that we have unusually good evidence
of breeds of pigs now keeping perfectly true, which have been
formed by the crossing of several distinct breeds. The Improved
Essex pigs, for instance, breed very true; but there is no doubt
that they largely owe their present excellent qualities to crosses
originally made by Lord Western with the Neapolitan race, and to
subsequent crosses with the Berkshire breed (this also having been
improved by Neapolitan crosses), and likewise, probably, with the
Sussex breed.[30] In breeds thus formed by complex crosses, the
most careful and unremitting selection during many generations has
been found to be indispensable. Chiefly in consequence of so much
crossing, some well-known breeds have undergone rapid changes;
thus, according to Nathusius,[31] the Berkshire breed of 1780 is
quite different from that of 1810; and, since this latter period,
at least two distinct forms have borne the same name.
CATTLE.
Domestic cattle are certainly the descendants of more than one wild
form, in the same manner as has been shown to be the case with our
dogs and pigs. Naturalists have generally made two main divisions
of cattle: the humped kinds inhabiting tropical countries, called
in India Zebus, to which the specific name of _ Bos indicus_ has
been given; and the common non-humped cattle, generally included
under the name of _Bos taurus._ The humped cattle were
domesticated, as may be seen on the Egyptian monuments, at least as
early as the twelfth dynasty, that is 2100 B.C. They differ from
common cattle in various osteological characters, even in a greater
degree, according to Rütimeyer,[32] than do the fossil and
prehistoric European species, namely, _Bos primigenius_ and _
longifrons,_ from each other. They differ, also, as Mr. Blyth,[33]
who has particularly attended to this subject, remarks, in general
configuration, in the shape of their ears, in the point where the
dewlap commences, in the typical curvature of their horns, in their
manner of carrying their heads when at rest, in their ordinary
variations of colour, especially in the frequent presence of
“nilgau-like markings on their feet,” and “in the one being born
with teeth protruding through the jaws, and the other not so.” They
have different habits, and their voice is entirely different. The
humped cattle in India “seldom seek shade, and never go into the
water and there stand knee-deep, like the cattle of Europe.” They
have run wild in parts of Oude and Rohilcund, and can maintain
themselves in a region infested by tigers. They have given rise to
many races differing greatly in size, in the presence of one or two
humps, in length of horns, and other respects. Mr. Blyth sums up
emphatically that the humped and humpless cattle must be considered
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