General Zoological Changes. 245 



derives the name of Bison from their native country, Bistoni- 

 an Thrace, and corrects the fabulous report of Aristotle, of 

 the horns not being fit for fighting, by stating that " the sharp 

 tips of the horns are like curved hooks of metal, and do not, 

 as in other oxen, (at least in some of the breeds), lean ob- 

 liquely towards one another, but point straight upwards. — 

 Therefore when in running they strike either a man or a beast, 

 they toss it into the air." This perpendicular direction, not 

 exactly of the tips but of the middle part of the horns, is ve- 

 ry characteristic of the zubr.* Therefore two of the legiti- 

 mate names of the zubr are Bonasus and Bison, and one of 

 its native haunts is the tract of country north of Greece, which 

 was its southern limit. More to the north it is easy to trace 

 it to the modern times, through Moldavia, (where it was call- 

 ed zimbr, about the time of Demetrius Cantemir),f Poland 

 and Prussia, to its present place of refuge. 



So far everything is pretty clear ; but if we try to trace the 

 zubr to its western limit, we shall find that in the woods of 

 Germany and France, the Bison either was taken for a diffe- 

 rent animal of the same genus, or that it co-existed with one 

 commonly called Urus. This word, which is first mentioned 

 in Caesar, (B. G. vi., 28), who never saw the animal, (he does 

 not say that he did, at least), which was so called by the in- 

 habitants of Gallia, and which is first mentioned in the Greek 

 language by writers of a comparatively late period, (otyog), is 

 said by Macrobius to be of Gallic origin. J However this 

 may be, it is probable that Caesar drew his description of the 

 animal which he calls Urus, not from his own observation, 

 and that he knew it from the report of some Gallian. His de- 

 scription runs thus. "These Uri are little less than elephants; 

 their look, colour and form, are like those of a bull ; they are 

 extremely strong and swift, and spare neither man nor beast 

 that they get sight of. They are untameable, even when 

 caught yomig. The width, form, and appearance of the horns 

 is very different from that of our oxen." Our reason for sup- 

 posing that Caesar never saw the Urus is, that he describes it 

 along with other animals of the Hercynian forest, of which he 

 could not have made such a fabulous report, if he had observ- 



* Oppian further says, that these oxen have the same beautiful shape as 

 the fierce lion, the king of beasts. He also, in describing the roughness of 

 the tongue, (which is likewise very striking in the zubr), mentions that they 

 lick the skin bloody with it. Herodotus, (vii. 126), reports, that Paeonia 

 contains wild oxen, (jSoej ayqioi), and lions. Associations like these make it 

 very probable, I think, that Greek travellers have mistaken in Africa lions 

 for bisons, and in the countries to the north of Greece, bisons for lions. 

 fSee BufTon, ed. by Cuvier, tome xvii. p. 85. 



X Saturn, iv. 4. " Urus gallica vox est, qua fori boves significantur." — 



x 4 



