105 



ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS, 



INCLUDING COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, 



Notice of the Vrus, or Wild Ox of Lithuania. (Bos Urus.) — Dr von 

 Jarocki read to the Zoological section of the Meeting of Naturalists at Ham- 

 burgh, in September last, a communication on the urus, or wild ox of Lith- 

 uania, (Bos urus, Gm.J A remnant of these animals, which appear to 

 have at one period existed in many parts of Europe, is still preserved in a 

 wild state in the forest of Bialowiza in Poland, under the special protection 

 of the Russian emperor, in which situation the author, who is professor of 

 Zoology in the University of Warsaw, has had opportunities of observing 

 them, and of collecting various facts respecting their habits and mode of life, 

 of which we give the following : — 



The wild oxen of the forest of Bialowiza live in herds, except a few of 

 the older ones, which wander about singly. Though they have never been 

 tamed, they are not so shy but that they may be approached within a mo- 

 derate distance, when care is taken to advance towards them from the wind- 

 ward side. Each herd keeps constantly to the same district of forest, near 

 to some river or stream, so that each of the twelve foresters, who have 

 charge of the wood, knows the herds that belong to his district. The 

 number of oxen in every herd is ascertained in the beginning of winter, by 

 observing their feet-tracks on the new fallen snow, as they pass between 

 the wood and the store of hay, which forms their winter provender. The 

 whole number, as thus estimated, is at present about 711, of which 48 are 

 calves of last year. The cows scarcely bring forth above once in three 

 years : the calves are produced in May, and are suckled nearly a whole 

 year. They continue to grow for six years, and may live till forty. The 

 urus feeds on various grasses, and on the leaves and bark of young trees 

 and brushwood, especially the willow, poplar, ash, and birch. In autumn 

 they also browse on heath, and the lichens which cover the bark of trees. 

 The rutting season commences in August, and lasts a fortnight ; about which 

 time they are fat and sleek, and unusually sportive. Their most common 

 sport consists in thrusting their horns into the ground, near a young tree, and 

 ploughing round it till they root it up. It is from this circumstance, in the 

 author's opinion, that the horns are almost always more or less torn, or 

 otherwise injured at the points. Horses and domestic cattle scent the urus 

 afar oiF, and immediately give signs of great dread and aversion. 



Dr von Jarocki coincides with the most eminent zoologists of the present 

 day in considering the Urus, a distinct species from the common ox. He 

 has given the distinctive characters at some length, but they do not mate- 

 rially differ from those assigned by other naturalists. The name of the 

 animal in the Polish language is Zubr, pronounced Suber, but in some 

 districts, it is also called Tur, which circumstance appears to have so far 

 misled the Baron von Heberstein, who visited Poland in the sixteenth 

 century, that he described two animals, in place of one, to correspond to 

 these two different names, and thus caused no small embarrassment to later 

 writers. The German name of the animal is Auerochs. According to 

 Gesner and Cuvier, it is the same as the Bonasus of Aristotle, which 

 animal was an inhabitant of Paconia, or that part of ancient Macedonia, 

 now called Bulgaria, which is still the native country of the Auerochs. 

 Writers posterior to the time of Aristotle mention two sorts of wild oxen, 

 under the names of the Urus and the Bison, the latter being distinguished 



VOL, III, " O 



