THE BISONS OF THE CAUCASUS." 



By A. Yermoloff. 

 Correspondent of the Institute, formcrUj Minister of Agriculture in Russia. 



The bison problem is one of the most interesting in zoology, first, 

 because it concerns a species— a very fine one — Avhich Tvould already 

 have totally disappeared if special precautions had not been severely 

 maintained to preserve its last representatives; second, because the 

 l^rehistoric tracings and paintings of bisons found in certain caverns 

 (at Altamira. Spain, in the Pyrenees, and in Perigord) raise many 

 questions which have not yet been settled as to the exact epoch when 

 those primitive, artistic representations were produced. 



Twice within a short time articles have ajDpeared in La Xature 

 concerning the American bison (M. de Varigny. Xo. 1653, January 

 28, 1905) and the bison of the Caucasus (M. Forbin, Xo. 1723, June 

 2, 190C)). It seems to me a proper occasion to complete, or perhaps 

 to rectify, what was then said concerning the European bison {Bo- 

 nasus europa'vs), particularly as I obtained special information on 

 this subject during my official administrative work in the Caucasus. 



I can guarantee the absolute accuracy of all the facts which I am 

 about to cite, for they were communicated to me by the master of the 

 hunt of the Grand Duke Sergius Michailowitch, who possesses vast 

 " hunting grounds '' (game preserves) on the north slope of the Cau- 

 casus range. There the European bison still exists in perfect free- 

 dom. In forests more primeval and of greater extent than those of 

 Bielowitza (Lithuania) the Grand Duke Sergius has, indeed, pre- 

 served these animals from imminent destruction by man, by wild 

 beasts, or by the natural conditions of a country where they sought a 

 last refuge after the destruction of the great forests of central Rus- 

 sia ; for the bison fled before the advancing settlements of man, whose 

 proximity he could not endure. 



I wish to state that I have the kind permission of the Grand Duke 

 Sergius Michailowitch, one of the most experienced hunters in Eu- 

 rope, to use the report which he caused to be sent me by M. Ed. 



« Translated, by permission, from La Nature. Paris. March 30. 1907. pp. 278- 

 283. 



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