254 On Maris Influence in effecting 



derived from the same root as Taurus, (the syllable or, or ur, 

 of the primitive language, from which the Greek 6%o$, and the 

 very word origin is derived, and which conveys the idea of 

 what is ancient and grand), Urus, Gall, and Lat. Our, Auer, 

 Ur, Auerochs, Germ. TJreox, Eng. Tur, Pol. Tor, Russ. Tyr, 

 Dan.; and one of Sclavonian origin, Zimbr, Mold, and Zubr 

 Lith. 



Though the Bos primogenius, of which Gesner obtained a 

 skull from England, and of which crania, found in different 

 parts of Europe, exist in the Museums of Paris, Gottingen, 

 Darmstadt, &c. and that of Jena possesses a perfect skeleton, 

 dug up near Hassleben, a village in the grand-duchy of Wei- 

 mar,* have been proved by Cuvier to be the antediluvian re- 

 presentative of the Bos taurus,f yet the short and straight 

 hair which the domesticated ox retains in every climate, if 

 compared with that of its congeners, the Bos urus, B. Ame- 

 ricanus, B. moschatus, makes it probable that it is indige- 

 nous to a warm country, and that it has been brought from 

 India, by Egypt, to Europe ; whereas its wild stock, like that 

 of the camel and dromedary, has vanished at a very remote 

 period. 



Before I begin the description of the Bos urus, I feel com- 

 pelled to make a few remarks on the more remote habitats 

 which have been ascribed to this species. The statement 

 that it was found in Siberia and on Mount Caucasus, had hi- 

 therto rested upon misconceptions or vague rumours, until 

 Mr. de Baer, of the St. Petersburgh Academy, endeavour- 

 ed to shew, in two articles read to the Academy on the 23rd 

 September, and the 20th October, 1836, that the Bos urus is 

 found, at the present day, in the Caucasian mountains, and 

 that it is probably met with in some districts of India, as well 

 as other parts of Asia. 



The former opinion Mr. de Baer tries to establish on the 

 authority of a skin sent to the Academy from Mount Cauca- 

 sus, by General Rosen. There are, however, some points in 

 that eminent philosopher's own comparison of that skin with 

 the skin of the Bos urus of Lithuania, w T hich would appear to 

 lead to a different conclusion. In the first place Mr. de Baer 

 owns that there are differences in the length and direction of 

 the horns, as well as the length and colour of the hair, on dif- 

 ferent parts of the body, which differences he ascribes to the 

 circumstance, that the skin sent by General Rosen, is that of 



* A very good figure of that skeleton may be seen in the article of Boja- 

 nus, Nov. Act. Acad. C»s. Leop. Carol, t. xiii. p. 2. 

 f Ossein. Foss. t. iv. p. 150, &c. 



