238 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



■■t-fi. 



,,fr-. 



\^A. 



irf 



periods in prehistoric times being — 

 (1) Flint; (2) liude, Unpolished 

 Stone ; (3) Polished Stone ; (-i) 

 Bronze ; (5) Iron. 



The Urus or Bos vrimiyenius is 

 first found in Britain wiih the Bison 

 in the ancient river terraces. It 

 lived on and became abundant, 

 probably after the Bison had become 

 extinct, throusfhout the 



age 



or 



Neolithic Man. But there is no 

 record of its remains having been 

 found in Britain associated with 

 Roman objects, or anything that 

 would show that it lived on later 

 than the Bronze Age. As regards 

 the Bison and Urus, Pliny distin- 

 § guishes the two as Bonassus. with its 

 "" thick mane — ''maned with a collar 

 '7r like a 



5- 





[£ terrible horns. 



lion'' — and Urus with its 



Tacitus tells us that 



^ a tribute of Urus hides was imposed 



tD on the Frisians. This, I think, again 



■^ mixes up the Bison with the Urus. 



1^ I have come across a passage which 



I. I cannot definitely recall, which states 



^ that Urus hides were good to lie on, 



S and I surmise that skins taken for 



tribute were so utilised, and for this 



purpose Bison hides would be desired 



— what we now call '• Bufialo hides " 



— and not Urus hides, which are 



said to have been -'hard.'"' The 



Bison is the Wisent (Fig. 6) of 



the Germans and Suhr of the 



Poles, while Urus {Bos jn-imir/enius) 



(Fig. 7) is termed Ur, Aur, 



Auerochs, bv the Germans, and 



Tur or Thur by the Poles. 



