EXTINCT OXEN 



319 



is not necessary to change it. The Sclavonic name is Zubr or Suber. 

 It is a great beast, standing 6 feet or so in height at the 

 shoulder. It ranged further over Europe well within the historic 

 period. In the days of Charlemagne it was spread over Germany 

 and was a beast of the chase. In the year 1848 the Emperor 

 of Russia presented a pair of these Oxen to the Zoological Society 

 of London. At the time of their presentation an interesting 

 communication was made to the Society by M. Dolmatoff, on the 

 method of the capture of these two examples. The creature is 

 not easy to capture and is alarming to confront. " The eyes," 



FIG. 167. Bison. Bison americanus. x ^5. 



says an old writer, " are red and fiery ; the looks are furious and 

 commanding." It has of course the shaggy mane and hump of 

 the American animal. The herd in Lithuania was said to be 

 1900 in the year 1856. Mr. E. N. Buxton, 1 who has lately 

 visited the forest, quotes M. Neverli to the effect that at present 

 the numbers are not more than 700. 



Allied to this animal, and apparently still nearer to the American 

 Bison, is the extinct R priscus of Europe. The Pleistocene Bisons 

 of North America, R antiquus and R latifrons, are not remote from 

 the living forms. Finally, the Miocene R sivalensis from India, 

 and the Pliocene Rferox and R alleni of North America, take back 

 this group to as remote a period as any other genus of Oxen. 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1899, p. 64. 



