THE WILD OX OF EUROPE 299 



under his own immediate supervision and direction. It 

 has been suggested that the figure of the aurochs was 

 taken from a domesticated ox, but Messrs. Nehring and 

 Schiemenz have shown that this is quite a mistaken idea. 

 Not the least important feature of the work of Herberstain 

 is the application of the name "aurochs" to the wild ox, 

 as distinct from the bison. The locality where aurochs 

 survived in Herberstain's time was the forest of Jakto- 

 zowka, situated about fifty-five kilometres west-south-west 

 of Warsaw, in the provinces of Bolemow and Sochaczew. 

 From other evidence it appears that the last aurochs was 

 killed in this forest in the year 1627. It is important 

 to notice that Herberstain describes the colour of the aurochs 

 as black, and this is confirmed by another old picture 

 of the animal. Gesner's figure of the aurochs, or, as he 

 calls it, "thur," given in his " His tor}' of Animals," pub- 

 lished in 1622, was probably adapted from Herberstain's. 

 It may be added that an ancient gold goblet depicts the 

 hunting and taming of the wild aurochs.* 



As a wild animal, then, the aurochs appears to have 

 ceased to exist in the early part of the seventeenth century ; 

 but as a species it is still among us, for there can be no 

 doubt the majority of the domesticated breeds of European 

 cattle are its descendants, all diminished in point of size, 

 and some departing more widely from the original type 

 than others. Aurochs' calves were in all probability cap- 

 tured by the prehistoric inhabitants of Britain and the 

 Continent and tamed ; and from these, with perhaps an 

 occasional blending of wild blood, are doubtless descended 

 most of our European cattle. 



Much misconception has, however, prevailed as to which 

 breeds are the nearest to the ancestral wild stock. For 

 * See Keller, Globus, vol. Ixxii., No. 22 (1897). 



