BISON 433 
Dead European Bison. From Prince Demidoff’s Hunting Trips in the Caucasus. 
The BISON (Bos [Bison] bonasus). 
The great elevation of the fore-quarters, the mass of long hair 
clothing the head, shoulders, and fore part of the body, together with 
the peculiar form of the head and horns, the latter of which are 
cylindrical, serve at once to distinguish bison from the other members 
of the ox tribe. There is also a difference in the number of ribs 
between the bison and the more typical oxen, the number in the 
former varying from 14 to 15 pairs. In the European species the 
mass of hair on the fore-quarters is not so long as in its American 
cousin, the form of the skull is different, and the hind-quarters do not 
fall away nearly to the same extent. Some difference may be noted 
between Caucasian and Lithuanian specimens, which are now referred 
to separate races. Height at shoulder, 6 feet 1 or 2 inches. In a 
bull killed by Mr. St. George Littledale, the length from the nose 
to the root of the tail measured 10 feet 1 inch, the height at the 
shoulder 5 feet 11 inches, and the approximate girth of the body 
8 feet 4 inches. 
Distribution —At the present day restricted to the Caucasus and the 
forest of Bielowitzka in Lithuania; the herds in the latter district 
existing in a protected state. The name aurochs, commonly mis- 
applied to the bison, belongs to the extinct wild ox of Europe. 
The Caucasian race is named B. 0. caucasicus. 
tN 
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