40 



OEiaiNAL AETICLES. 



this name by F. von Meyer, from the Diluvium of Arezzo and 

 Siena, This variety has hitherto only been found at Concise. 



The third, or Longifrons race, is by far the most common of 

 the three. It occurs in all the Pileworks, and at Moosseedorf and 

 "Wangen — that is to say, in the settlements which are supposed to be 

 the oldest, ahuost to the exclusion of the Primigenius race. M. 

 Eutimeyer considers that it is the domesticated form of B. longifrons 

 of Owen, but as the word " longifrons " seems to him to be inappro- 

 priate and incorrect, he uses the name " braehyceros," which was ori- 

 ginally proposed in manuscript by Owen for this species, but which 

 has also been used by Gray for an African species, and ought not 

 therefore to be adopted. 



A subsequent portion of the work is devoted to the examination 

 of the existing races of Eurojjean Oxen. The old Trochoceros race 

 he considers to be extinct, but he sees in the great Oxen of Fries- 

 land, Jutland, and Holstein, the descendants of the Bos primigenius. 

 This race does not now occur in Switzerland, but he considers 

 that there are at present in that country two distinct varieties of 

 Domestic Oxen. Tlie one of various shades between light grey 

 and dark brown, but without spots, and prevailing in Schwyz, tJri, 

 Wallis, &c., in fact, in the whole country south of a line dra^vTi from 

 the Lake of Constance to WaUis, agrees in its general osteological 

 characters with the Bos longifrons of Owen. The other or spotted 

 variety, which is generally of smaller size, and prevails in Isorthern 

 Switzerland, is considered by M. Eiitimeyer to be descended from the 

 B. frontosus, a species found fossil in Sweden and described by Nillson. 



I wiU not express any opinion of my own as to these conclusions. 

 The subject is one no less dilhcult than important, and our space 

 does not permit us to lay before our readers the details given by M. 

 Elitimeyer, to whose work therefore we mvist refer all those who wish 

 for more information on the subject. All naturalists must feel much 

 indebted to M. Eiitimeyer for the labour he has spent, and the light 

 he lias thrown upon the subject, whether we eventually adopt his 

 conclusions or not. In six woodcuts at the termination of this 

 memoir, I give representations of the skulls of these three races, and 

 those of the corresponding fossil species. 



Human bones occur in the Pileworks but very seldom, and may 

 no doubt be referred to accidents, especially as we fmd that those of 

 children are most numerous. One mature skull was, however, dis- 

 covered at Meilen, and has been described by Professor His, Avho 

 considers that it does not diiFer much from the ordinary S^sviss type. 

 And while his work was in the press, M. Riitimeyer received from 

 M. Schwab four more skulls, two of which were obtained at Nidan- 

 Steinberg, one at Sutz, and one from Biel. 



M. Troyon has a very interesting chapter on the different modes 

 of burial ; he points oiit that the disposition of the corpse after 

 death, had a deep meaning and is perhaps of greater importance than 

 tiie nature of the tomb, which must in many cases have depended 

 upon tliat of the materials which came to hand. The Greeks gener- 



