CATHOLICS Catholics, OLD. See OLD CATHOLICS. Catilinarium of Sallust is perhaps the greatest Catholikos is the title of the head of the masterpiece in any literature of a history in Armenian Church. See ARMENIA. Catili'na, LUCIUS SERGIUS, the Roman conspirator, was born about the year 108 B.C. of an ancient patrician but impoverished family. His youth was stained with profligacy and crime. He attached himself to the party of Sulla, and revelled in the bloodshed and confusion that disgraced its triumph. His body was capable of enduring any labour or fatigue, and his mind was masterful, resolute, and remorseless. Despite his infamies he was elected prætor in the year 68 B.C., and next year governor of Africa, but was disqualified as a candidate for the consulship in 66 by charges of maladministration in his province. Disappointed thus in his ambition, and burdened with debts, he saw no hope for himself but in the chances of a political revolution, and therefore entered into a conspiracy, including many other young Roman nobles, in morals and circumstances like himself. The plot, however, was revealed to Cicero by Fulvia, mistress of one of the conspirators. Operations were to commence with the assassination of Cicero in the Campus Martius, but the latter was kept aware of every step of the conspiracy, and contrived to frustrate the whole design. In the night of November 6 (63 B.C.), Catiline assembled his confederates, and explained to them a new plan for assassinating Cicero; for bringing up the Tuscan army (which he had seduced from its allegiance), under Manlius, from the encampment at Fæesulæ; for setting fire to Rome, and putting to death the hostile senators and citizens. In the course of a few hours, everything was made known to Cicero. Accordingly, when the chosen assassins came to the house of the consul, on pretence of a visit, they were immediately repulsed. Two days later, Catiline with his usual reckless audacity, appeared in the senate, when Cicero who had received intelligence that the insurrection had already broken out in Etruria -commenced the celebrated invective beginning Quousque tandem abutére, Catilina, patientia nostra? (How long now, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?') The conspirator was confounded, not by the keenness of Cicero's attack, but by the minute knowledge he displayed of the plot. His attempt at a reply was miserable, and was drowned in cries of execration. With curses on his lips, he rushed out of the senate, and escaped from Rome during the night. Catiline and Manlius were now denounced as traitors, and an army under the consul Antonius was sent against them. The conspirators who remained in Rome, of whom the chief were Lentulus and Cethegus, were at once arrested. After a great debate in the senate (December 5), in which Cæsar and Cato took a leading part on opposite sides, the conspirators was were condemned to death. The sentence executed that night in prison. The insurrections in several parts of Italy were meanwhile suppressed; many who had resorted to Catiline's camp in Etruria deserted when they heard what had taken place in Rome, and his intention to proceed into Gaul was frustrated. In the beginning of January he returned by Pistoria (now Pistoja) into Etruria, where he encountered the forces under Antonius, and after a desperate battle in which he fought with more than the courage of despair, he was defeated and slain. Catiline's appearance was in perfect keeping with his character. His face was reckless and defiant in expression, and haggard with a sense of crime; his eyes were wild and bloodshot; his gait restless and unsteady from nightly debauchery and the constant fever of insatiable and disappointed ambition. The Bellum miniature. 1, Shoot of Birch in spring, bearing large terminal Male (b) and Female (a) Catkins. 2, Shoot of Birch in autumn with ripe Female Catkin. 3, Female Catkin of Willow. in catkins, the female catkin of the flower being reduced to a few brown scales, while the female flowers of the oak are solitary, each on its own branchlet. Male catkins fall off after shedding their pollen, and even during life are frequently weak and pendulous, like the stamens of grasses, but these consequences of extremely reduced vegetative life become no doubt also of advantage at first in developing, and later in scattering, the pollen. Catlin, GEORGE, one of the first authorities on the habits of the North American Indians, was born in Pennsylvania in 1796. He was bred to the law, but soon turned to drawing and painting, which he had taught himself. In 1832 he went to the Far West to study the native Indians, and spent the next eight years among them, everywhere painting portraits of individuals (not less than 470 full length) and pictures illustrative of life and manners, which are now in the National Museum at Washington. Catlin next travelled (1852-57) in South and Central America, and lived in Europe until 1871. At London in 1841 he published his learned and amply illustrated Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, and in 1844 The North American Portfolio. He died at Jersey City, December 23, 1872. Other books are Notes of Eight Years in Europe (1848); The Breath of Life, or Mal-Respiration (1861), on the benefit of keeping one's mouth always closed. Catmint, or CATNEP (Nepeta Cataria), a labiate herb, very common in North America, of which the peculiar fragrance is very attractive to cats, much in the same way as valerian. Cato, DIONYSIUS, is the name prefixed to a little volume of moral precepts in verse, which was a great favourite during the middle ages, but the author of which is unknown. Its usual title is Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium. It begins with a preface addressed by the supposed author to his son, after which come fifty-six injunctions of rather a simple character, such as parentem ama. Next follow 164 moral precepts, each expressed in two dactylic hexameters, the whole monotheistic in tone without being distinctly Christian. The book was early translated into most of the western languages. An English version by Benedict Burgh was printed by Caxton before 1479. A good edition is Hauthal's (Berlin, 1869). (For the rest, I vote that Carthage must be destroyed'). Cato died in the year 149, at the age of 85. He had been twice married, and in his eightieth year his second wife bore him a son, the grandfather of Cato of Utica. Cato treated his slaves with old-fashioned harshness and cruelty, and in his old age became greedy of gain, although it cannot be said that his avarice impaired his honesty. He wrote several works, of which only the De Re Rustica (ed. by Keil, Leip. 1882), a kind of collection of the rules of good husbandry, has come down to us. There exist but a few fragments of his Origines, a summary of the Roman annals. These are reprinted by Jordan (Leip. 1860). Of his speeches, which were read with approval by Cicero, none remain. We possess his life as written by Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch, and Aurelius Victor. Cato, MARCUS PORCIUS, frequently surnamed Censorius or Censor, also Sapiens (the wise'), and afterwards PRISCUS or MAJOR-to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato of Utica-was born Cato, MARCUS PORCIUS, named CATO THE at Tusculum in 234 B.C. He was brought up on YOUNGER, or CATO UTICENSIS (from the place of his father's farm in the Sabine country, and here he his death), was born 95 B.C. Having lost, during learned to love the simple and severe manners of childhood, both parents, he was educated in the his Roman forefathers. He made his first campaign house of his uncle, M. Livius Drusus, and, even in in his seventeenth year, distinguished himself at his boyhood, gave proofs of his decision and strength the capture of Tarentum (209), at the defeat of of character. In the year 72 B. C. he served with Hasdrubal on the Metaurus (207), and in the later distinction in the campaign against Spartacus, but years of the second Punic war. At the same time without finding satisfaction in military life, though he had been making himself a reputation as an he proved himself a good soldier. From Maceorator and statesman. He became quæstor in 204, donia, where he was military tribune in 67, he went and served under the pro-consul Scipio Africanus in to Pergamus in search of the Stoic philosopher, Sicily and Africa, denouncing his commander's Athenodorus. He brought him back to his camp, luxury and extravagance on his return to Rome. and induced him to proceed with him to Rome, He was ædile in 199, and prætor the following where he spent the time partly in philosophical year, when he obtained Sardinia as his province. studies, and partly in forensic discussions. DesirSo high was his reputation for capacity and virtue, ous of honestly qualifying himself for the quæstorthat in 195, although his family had hitherto been ship, he commenced to study all the financial unknown, he was raised to the consulship. Spain questions connected with it. Immediately after fell to him as his province, and here he showed such his election he introduced, in spite of violent vigour and military genius in crushing a formidable opposition from those interested, a rigorous reform insurrection, that in the following year he was into the treasury offices. He quitted the quæstorhonoured by a triumph. In 191 he served in the ship at the appointed time amid general applause. campaign against Antiochus, and to him the great In 63 B.C. he was elected tribune, and also devictory won at Thermopylae was mainly due. He livered his famous speech on the conspiracy of now turned himself strenuously to civil affairs, and Catiline, in which he denounced Cæsar as an strove with all his might to stem the tide of Greek accomplice of that political desperado, and deterrefinement and luxury, and advocate a return to mined the sentence of the senate. Strongly dreada simpler and stricter social life after the ancient ing the influence of unbridled greatness, and not Roman pattern. In 187 he opposed the granting of discerning that an imperial genius-like that of a triumph to M. Fulvius Nobilior after his return Cæsar-was the only thing that could remedy from Etolia victorious, on the ground that he was the evils of that overgrown monster, the Roman too indulgent to his soldiers, that he cherished Republic, he commenced a career of what now literary tastes, and even kept poets in his camp. appears to us blind pragmatical opposition to the These rude prejudices of Cato were not acceptable three most powerful men in Rome-Crassus, Pomto the senate, and his opposition was fruitless. In pey, and Cæsar. Cato was a noble but strait-laced 184 Cato was elected censor, and discharged so theorist, who lacked the intuition into circumrigorously the duties of his office that the epithet stances which belongs to men like Cæsar and Censorius, formerly applied to all persons in the Cromwell. His first opposition to Pompey was same station, became his permanent surname. He successful; but his opposition to Cæsar's consulate repaired the watercourses, paved the reservoirs, for the year 59 not only failed, but even served to cleansed the drains, raised the rents paid by the hasten the formation of the first triumvirate bepublicans for the farming of the taxes, and tween Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus. He was afterdiminished the contract prices paid by the state to wards forced to side with Pompey, who had withthe undertakers of public works. More question- drawn from his connection with Cæsar, and become able reforms were those in regard to the price of reconciled to the aristocracy. After the battle of slaves, dress, furniture, equipage, and the like. Pharsalia (48), Cato intended to join Pompey, but Good and bad innovations he opposed with equal hearing the news of his death, escaped into Africa, animosity and intolerance, and his despotism in where he was elected commander by the partisans enforcing his own idea of decency may be illustrated of Pompey, but resigned the post in favour of from the fact that he degraded Manilius, a man of Metellus Scipio, and undertook the defence of prætorian rank, for having kissed his wife in his Utica. Here, when he had tidings of Cæsar's daughter's presence in open day. decisive victory over Scipio at Thapsus (46), Cato, finding that his troops were wholly intimidated, advised the Roman senators and knights to escape from Utica, and make terms with the victor, but prohibited all intercessions on his own behalf. He resolved to die rather than surrender, and, after spending the night in reading Plato's Phado, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the breast. In the year 175 Cato was sent to Carthage to arbitrate between the Carthaginians and King Masinissa, and was so impressed by the dangerous power of Carthage that ever afterwards he ended every speech in the senate-house-whatever the inmediate subject might be with the well-known words: Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam' CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS His example was more fruitful in results than the achievements of his life, for he became the typical example of the stoic that kindled to imitation the imaginations of the noblest Romans for two centuries under the empire. Cat-o'-nine-tails. See FLOGGING. Catoptrics is that division of geometrical optics which treats of the phenomena of light incident upon the surfaces of bodies, and reflected therefrom. See OPTICS. Cato Street Conspiracy, a plot formed in London in 1820 by a handful of crazy ruffians for the murder of Lord Castlereagh and the other ministers of the crown, so called from the place of meeting in Cato Street, Edgeware Road. As usual the plot was revealed beforehand to the police by one of the gang, and accordingly the conspirators were seized, after a short scuffle, in a stable in Cato Street. Arthur Thistlewood, the ringleader, and four of his dupes, were hanged, while five more were transported for life. Catrail (also known as the Picts' Work or Picts' Work Ditch) is the name applied to the remains of a large earthwork, about 50 miles in length, which, beginning at Torwoodlee Hill, near the junction of the Gala Water with the Tweed, runs with a semicircular sweep southward through the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh to a point under Peel Fell, in the Cheviots. The earthwork consisted of a deep ditch, with a rampart on each side, and varied in breadth from 20 to 26 feet. The cultivation of land and other causes have resulted in the destruction of the ramparts in many places. The Catrail was first described by Gordon in his Itinerarium Septentrionale (1726), and since then has been the subject of much speculation among antiquaries. For a full description of the Catrail, see paper in Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club for 1880, by James Smail, F.S.A. An account of the various theories which have been promulgated regarding the Catrail will be found in Blackwood's Magazine for 1888. Cats, JACOB, a Dutch statesman and poet, was born at Brouwershaven, in Zeeland, in 1577, and after studying law at Leyden and Orleans, finally settled at Middelburg. He rose to high offices in the state, and was twice sent as ambassador to England, first in 1627, and again in 1652, while Cromwell was at the head of affairs. From this time till his death, September 1660, he lived in retirement at his villa near the Hague. Here he wrote his autobiography, which, however, was not published until 1709. As a poet, Father Cats' enjoyed the highest popularity. His poems are characterised by simplicity, rich fancy, clearness, homely vigour, and purity of style, and by their excellent moral tendency; while throughout are richly scattered those shrewd maxims and worldly. wise axioms which have been so dear to his practical countrymen. The most highly prized of his productions were the Houwelyk, and the Trouwring (a series of romantic stories relating to remarkable marriages), and the Spiegel van den Ouden en Nieuwen Tyd. His works were first collected in a folio volume in 1658. A late edition is that by Wolterink (Dordrecht, 1878-82). Cat's-eye, a beautiful variety of chalcedonic quartz receiving its name from the resemblance which the reflection of light from it, especially when cut en cabochon, or in a convex form, is supposed to exhibit to the light that seems to emanate from the interior of the eye of a cat. It has a sort of pearly appearance, and is chatoyant, or characterised by a fine play of light, which is supposed to result from the parallel arrangement of fine fibres of some foreign substance, such as ami anthus, or of minute hollow tubules similarly arranged. It is of various colours, and is obtained chiefly from India and Ceylon, but occurs also in the Harz. A chatoyant variety of felspar has been sometimes confounded with cat's-eye. Catskill, a village of New York, on the Hudson, 34 miles by rail below Albany. P. (1890) 4915. Catskill Mountains, a group of mountains in the state of New York, U.S., west of the Hudson River, and south of the Mohawk. They belong to the Appalachian system, and are continuous northward with the Helderbergs, souththe Delaware Mountains, and westward with a ward with the Shawangunks, south-westward with high plateau which occupies much of the region of of the northern counties of Pennsylvania. The the southern half of Western New York, and a part Catskills proper cover about 5000 sq. m., chiefly in 4000 feet in height. Greene County, N. Y. Some peaks reach nearly The mountains generally have steep and often precipitous ascents, and their summits are broad and rocky. The deep valleys or cloves' of this region, with almost perpendicular walls, form a remarkable scenic feature. What is known as 'the Catskill red sandstone' is regarded by most geologists as the very latest formed of the Devonian strata of North America. The mountains are well wooded, and afford many summerresorts for the people of the larger cities. Searing's Land of Rip Van Winkle (1885). Cat's-tail. See BULRUSH. See Cat's-tail Grass. See TIMOTHY GRASS. Cat'taro, a strongly fortified port in the Austrian crown-land of Dalmatia, lies at the head of the Gulf of Cattaro, 40 miles SE. of Ragusa, under the steep Montenegrin hills. Cattaro has a cathedral, a naval school, and a population of 3000, chiefly engaged in the Montenegrin trade. At one time the capital of a small republic, the town in 1420 joined the republic of Venice, and after varied fortunes was handed over to Austria in 1814 by the treaty of Vienna.-The Gulf of Cattaro, an inlet of the Adriatic, consists of three basins or lakes, connected by straits of about half a mile in breadth. Its length is 19 miles, and its depth from 15 to 20 fathoms. Cattegat, or KATTEGAT, the bay or arm of the sea between the east coast of Jutland and the west coast of Sweden, to the north of the Danish islands. It is connected with the Baltic Sea by the Great and Little Belt (q.v.), and by the Sound; and the Skager Rack (q.v.) connects it with the North Sea. The length of the Cattegat is about 150 miles, and its greatest breadth 85 miles. Its greatest depth is 36 fathoms, but it has numerous sand-banks; and navigation is rendered more dangerous by its strong currents and violent storms. The Danish shores are low, with stretches of sand or reefs, but the Swedish shore is very steep and rocky. Cattermole, GEORGE, water-colour painter and book-illustrator, was born at Dickleborough, Norfolk, 8th August 1800. He began life as a topographical draftsman. At the age of sixteen he was in 1830 he visited Scotland to obtain materials for engaged upon Britton's English Cathedrals, and his fine series of illustrations to the Waverley Novels. He was soon known as a brilliant designer, and was largely employed by the publishers, contributing to the annuals, his best work of this class being the illustrations to his brother, the Rev. C. Cattermole's Historical Annual, dealing with the period of the Civil War. In 1822 he was elected an associate exhibitor, and in 1833 a member, of the Water-colour Society, to whose exhibitions he contributed Sir Walter Raleigh witnessing the Execution of the Earl of Essex' (1839), Old English Hospitality' (1839), 'The Castle Chapel' (1840), "The Assassination of the Regent Murray' (1843), 'Cellini defending the Castle of St Angelo' (1845), and others of his best water-colours, examples of which may be studied in the South Kensington Museum. He retired from the society in 1850, and turned his attention to oil-painting, exhibiting A Terrible Secret,' a work in this medium, in the Royal Academy of 1863. He died at Clapham Common, 24th July 1868. As an artist he was distinguished by great versatility, and by considerable power of grouping and composition. He was learned in costume, and his works show much dramatic feeling. He gained a first-class gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1855, and was a member of the Royal Academy at Amsterdam, and of the Belgian Society of Water-colour Painters. Catti, or CHATTI, a German people, erroneously included by Cæsar under the name Suevi (q.v.), who inhabited a country pretty nearly corresponding to the present Hesse. They took part in the general rising of the Germans under Arminius; and during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in the end of the 2d century, they made incursions into Roman Germany and Rhætia. In the 3d century their name began to give place to that of the Franks (q.v.). Cattle. In the United Kingdom there are twelve native breeds of cattle. England claims exactly one-half of these-namely, the Shorthorn, Hereford, Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk Red Polled, Sussex, and Longhorn breeds. There are two or three varieties of cattle in Wales, but for practical purposes they may be reckoned as one breed. Four distinct breeds have arisen in Scotland, these being the Polled Aberdeen-Angus, Galloway, Ayrshire, and West Highland breeds. The remaining one is the native breed of Ireland, the hardy little Kerry, regarded as one of the purest and truest existing representatives of the ancient Bos longifrons. In addition to these twelve native races, other two very useful breeds, the Jersey and Guernsey, have become domiciled in the British Isles, and there are also a few of the famous Dutch milking cows scattered over the country. These various races, with an almost endless variety of crosses between two or more of them, make up the entire cattle stock of the United Kingdom, which, according to the official agricultural returns, numbered 10,598,677 head in 1887. The Shorthorn is by far the most numerous and most widely diffused. It has not inaptly been titled the 'Cosmopolitan Shorthorn.' It has found a home in almost every county in the United Kingdom. The county of Durham is generally regarded as the cradle of shorthorns; indeed, they have often been spoken of both at home and abroad as the 'Durham breed.' But the valuable race of native cattle from which the improved shorthorn Fig. 1.-Shorthorn Bull and Cow. was raised abounded freely in adjoining counties as far back as reliable history enables us to trace their career. Early in the 19th century they were also known as "Teeswater' cattle, the first famous shorthorns having come from the valley of the Tees. CATTLE The brothers Charles and Robert Colling were the first to begin the systematic improvement of the breed. In those days the 'rank and file' of shorthorn cattle were large, high-standing cattle, good milkers, but rough in form and slow in fattening, The Collings would seem to have at once directed themselves to the improvement of the native cattle where they were most defective, and they were successful in establishing a stock of cattle of a decidedly more profitable character-wider in the rib, more symmetrical in the frame, shorter in the leg, slightly smaller in size, heavier in flesh, and more speedy in maturing and fattening. It has been said, but not established beyond contention, that in effecting this improvement the Collings made use of an infusion of blood from some of the other smaller breeds. It is more likely that they relied upon 'selection' in breeding-the mating of animals of the shorthorn breed which most nearly approached to their ideal character, and fixing the type by pursuing what is desig nated as 'in-and-in' breeding-i.e. mating animals which are closely related to each other, a system that is known to assist greatly in stamping or fixing peculiar features and characteristics upon races of stock. The success of the Collings was speedy and complete, for the fame of their cattle spread so rapidly that even earlier than 1810, the year of the first great public sale of shorthorns,' they had sold cows and bulls at £100 each, and had hired bulls for use to other breeders at preAt Charles miums of from £50 to £100 a year. Colling's historical sale at Ketton in 1810, 29 cows and heifers realised an average of £140, 4s. 7d.; at Robert Colling's sale at Barmpton, in a time and 18 bulls £169, 8s. each. Eight years later, of great depression, an average of £128, 9s. 10d. was obtained for 61 animals. The sensational event of the memorable sale at Ketton was the purchase of the celebrated bull Comet' at the fabulous price of 1000 guineas. were At the Ketton sale 6 The importance and interest attaching to the operations of these two great pioneer breeders will at once be understood when it is mentioned that there is not at the present day a well-bred living shorthorn in whose pedigree Colling blood does not figure prominently. Colling's successors were, on the Booth family, whose representatives then one hand, Thomas Bates; on the other, the Thomas and John Booth. (1810) Thomas Bates purchased the two-yearold heifer Young Duchess' for 183 guineas. Thomas Booth bought the bull-calf Albion for 60 guineas; and at the Barmpton sale (1818) his brother, John Booth, secured the yearling bull 'Pilot' for 270 guineas. With these purchases the shorthorn breed drifted into two great channels, which by degrees absorbed the main current of the race, so that for many years the terms 'Booth' and Bates' shorthorns have been as applicable in relation to the bovine world as Whig and Tory to the political. These two strains of Bates and Booth, as has been seen, had one common origin in Colling's blood, but in course of time they developed distinctive shapes and characteristics which in the purer representatives are still well maintained. Mr Robert Bruce, than whom there is no higher authority, thus describes the characteristics of 'Booth' and 'Bates,' speaking in the first place of 'Bates' cattle: "They are higher standing, better milking, and perhaps gayer looking cattle than the Booths. They have as a rule more upright shoulders, flatter foreribs, opener sides, with long hindquarters less fully packed with flesh than the rival strain. As a rule their heads are clean cut and pretty wide, while the bulls have long arched muscular necks and keen tempers. The prevailing colours in this strain of blood are, generally T CATTLE speaking, deeper than in the other, being reds and rich roans. The Booth cattle are wider, deeper, and perhaps less pretty. Their shoulders are more laid back, their foreribs and flanks deeper and better filled. They are more a beef than a milk breed, with well-packed quarters and thick loins. The sires remind one more of a fat Smithfield ox, and they move without that courage and dash so peculiar to the "Duke's" and other highly valued strains of the Bates tribes.' But while these are the two great divisions of the breed, there are a great many excellent shorthorns of mixed breeding which do not show any decided leaning either to the one or the other. The prevailing colour of shorthorns is roan of varying shades, but many are red, and some white. There is a dislike to red and white in distinct spots as a colour, and quite an unreasonable objection to white. In precocity, production of meat, and general utility, the shorthorn is unsurpassed. Other varieties may excel it in special points for peculiar purposes or in certain limited districts, but for a combination of all the more useful properties of domestic cattle and adaptability to varying conditions of soil and climate, there is no equal to the shorthorn. The facility with which the shorthorn adapts itself to changes of soil, climate, and treatment is quite remarkable, and this combined with the valuable property which it also possesses in an unequalled degree suitability for crossing with and improving other and inferior classes of cattle-has spread the improved shorthorn far and wide, not only in its own native land, but in countries beyond the seas. In North and South America, the continent of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts, the shorthorn has been extensively introduced. In all these countries, as at home, it has been one of the most active and effective agents in improving the native races of cattle and in increasing the production of high-class beef. Many breeders of shorthorn cattle have cultivated the fattening to the detriment of the milking properties. Still, while it is quite common to meet with a very light milker amongst shorthorn cows, there is a large section of the breed which possesses dairying properties of the highest order. Good shorthorn cows give from 700 to 1000 gallons of milk in twelve months. At the London Christmas Fat Stock Show in December 1887 the class of shorthorn steers under two years old (averaging 672 days) gave an average liveweight of 1396 lb.; steers over two and under three years of age (averaging 988 days), 1870 lb.; and steers over three years old (averaging 1321 days), 2116 lb. each. Hereford cattle display strongly fixed and peculiarly distinctive characteristics both in outward features and general attributes. The improved breed traces directly from the stock of cattle which were found by the earliest writers on agricultural topics existing in the county of Hereford and adjoining districts-the same aboriginal variety from which have descended the Devon and Sussex breeds. The improvement of the Hereford would seem to have been begun by the Tomkins family far back in the 18th century, and was taken up in a systematic manner by Benjamin Tomkins about 1766, and carried on by him with much energy and success until his death in 1815. His herd was continued by his daughters till 1819 (one year later than the Barmpton sale of shorthorns), when it was dispersed by public auction. Twenty-eight breeding animals realised an average of £149 per head; four adult bulls having brought as much as £267, 15s. each; and two bull-calves £181, 2s. 6d. each. From that time the fortunes of the breed fell into other hands, and never for a moment have the Hereford stock-owners wavered in their loyalty to their fine old breed of cattle. There is 19 little doubt that infusions of foreign blood contributed to some extent to the building up of the modern Hereford. In the 17th century cattle had been imported into Hereford from Flanders by Lord Scudamore, and in later times there had been introductions of stock from various parts of England and Wales. The dominant ingredient, however, is the aboriginal race of the county, and selection in breeding and careful management have been the principal agencies by which the breed has been brought to the high standard it has now attained. The modern typical Hereford is red in colour, with white face and white marks in the top line of the neck, back over the crops, as well as in the chest and bottom line all the way backwards. The 'white face' is indeed the tribal badge' of the Hereford, and with their wide and graceful horns they are singularly handsome in outward appearance. Formerly there were gray-faced or spotted Herefords; and even yet there is in existence a strain of Herefords known as 'smoky-faced Montgomeries.' The Herefords are similar in size to the shorthorn; usually broad along the back and heavily fleshed, but occasionally light in the thighs and deficient in internal fat. Their highest property lies in their value as grazing cattle; and this has led to the extensive employment of Hereford bulls in breeding cattle for the rolling prairie-ranches of the western states of America. They are hardy cattle, with a rank coat of hair and thick mellow hide, and they are excellent foragers' all points of special importance in ranche cattle. It is pre-eminently a beef-producing breed; matures early and yields meat of the finest quality. As a rule the cows are deficient as milkers, for this property has never been cultivated as it ought to have been. The average live-weight of two-year-old Hereford steers (averaging 634 days) at the London Christmas Fat Stock Show in December 1887 was 1390 lb.; of steers over and under three years (averaging 938 days), 1742 lb.; and of steers over three years (averaging 1310 days), 2041 lb. There are a few excellent herds of Herefords in Ireland, and they have been exported in large numbers to foreign countries, notably North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Devon cattle are deep red in colour, and have frequently a white spot on the belly just in front of the udder, with wide round loins, smaller in size than the two breeds just mentioned. It is noted for the almost perfect formation of the shoulder, which is laid into the body with remarkable neatness. The breed has still its headquarters in Devon and Somerset, where it has held undisputed sway for hundreds of years. It won the admiration of Arthur Young, who gives interesting information regarding the breed in his report dated 1776. Here also there was one 'master mind' at work on the improvement of the breed. Mr Quartly of Molland is described by Young as the most celebrated of breeders in North Devon; and, the greatest of our early writers on agriculture gives a most minute account of the scheme of |