THE ANCIENT MAMMALS OF BRITAIN. 30^ 



alike that it requires an expert to distinguish between them. 

 Teeth of both species are found in the brick-earths of the 

 Thames Valley, but while those of the former are common in 

 most of the English caves, those of the latter appear to be only 

 known as cavern-lbssils from Gower, in Glamorganshire, and 

 from a rock-fissure near Plymouth. 



One of the finest of the Pleistocene Mammals was the great 

 Aurochs or Wild Ox {Bos tauriis)^ the ancestor of our domestic 

 breeds of cattle, which was living in the Black Forest in 

 the time of Caesar. Even then it was described as but little 

 inferior in bulk to an Elephant, and those who have seen the 

 gigantic skulls from the Ilford brick-earths, preserved in the 

 British Museum, and have compared them with ordinary 

 Oxen, will have some idea of the magnificent proportions 

 of the Aurochs. Side-by-side with the latter lived Bison 

 {Bos bison) of equally gigantic size as compared with their 

 living Lithuanian and Caucasian representatives (to whom the 

 name of Aurochs is persistently misapplied). Although the 

 Bison was very abundant in Britain during th^ Cavern Period, 

 it disappeared at an earlier date than its cousin the Aurochs, 

 its remains being unknown from the fens and turbaries, where 

 those of the latter are so abundant. If we except certain 

 remains assigned to Sheep and Goats, the only other Hollow- 

 horned Ruminants that occur in the deposits under consider- 

 ation are the Musk-Ox {Ovibos moschatiis)^ and the Saiga Ante- 

 lope (ySaiga tayfarica)^ both of which are of extreme importance 

 as pointing out the nature of the climate then prevailing. Re- 

 mains of both these animals have hitherto been obtained only 

 from the south-east of England, those of the former occurring as 

 far east as Maidenhead, as well as in the brick-earths of several 

 places in Kent, and on the Dogger Bank, while those of the 

 latter are known only from Twickenham. It is thus very re- 

 markable that these species occur exactly where the Reindeer 

 5 X 



