European Bison 



119 



The skull of the European bison is specially characterised by the 

 flatness of the forehead and the marked prominence of the sockets of the 

 eyes, which form short tubes ; as well as by the extreme shortness and 

 width of the nasal bones. 



The longest bison horns recorded by Mr. Rowland Ward are those 

 of the bull from Lithuania presented to the British Museum by the Tsar 

 of Russia. These measure 8{ inches along the outside curve, and have a 



YiQ 27. — Another View of the Bull European Bison at Woburn Abbey. Photographed by the 



Duchess of Bedford. 



basal girth of i2|^, and a tip-to-tip interval of 13I inches. A bull killed 

 by Mr. St. George Littledale, which stood 5 feet 1 1 inches in height at 

 the withers, measured 10 feet i inch from the nose to the root of the tail. 



The two remaining resorts of the bison are the forest ot Bielowitza (or 

 Bielovege), in the district formerly known as Lithuania, but now officially 

 designated the government of Grodno, and certain parts of the Caucasus. 

 In the latter area alone does the animal exist in a perfectly wild condition. 

 It is there confined to the forest districts in the neighbourhood of the 

 sources of the Leba and Bjellaja rivers on the north side of the range, 



