262 Prof. Nilsson on the extinct and existing 
to be found on the earth in its wild state, was formerly widely 
spread over the greater part of Europe, from the present Scania 
to France and Italy, and from England to the northern and 
western parts of Asia; as in all those places its fossil bones are 
found in more recent strata. That great physical changes have 
occurred in the position of places in Europe, during the long 
time it sojourned here, is more than probable. South Scania has 
separated itself from the German continent, by means of that part 
of the Baltic which now lies between its shores and those of Pome- 
rania; also from Denmark by means of the Sound; and England 
has also been separated from the great European continent by the 
Channel. Whether these straits—the Oresund, the Channel and 
the southern part of the Baltic—were formed at the same time, we 
do not know with certainty ; but from zoological reasons, which 
shall hereafter be adduced, it will appear that Scandinavia was at 
a much later period united to the European continent than En- 
gland. In the present southern part of Scania, in the district 
south of Séderas, which anciently appears to have formed the 
northern boundary of the Germanic continent, this species was 
found in vast numbers; and to judge from the fossil bones dug 
up from our turf-bogs, they are found here in much greater 
number than the Bison, which existed here contemporaneously 
with it. During an equally long period, fifteen skeletons or skulls 
of the Urus have been found in Scania and only three of the 
Bison. According to these remains found, there must have 
lived five times as many of the former species as of the latter. 
However, although this proportion cannot be determined so ex- 
actly by figures, it nevertheless shows that the Urus was found 
here in much larger number than the Bison, and this same pro- 
portion might hold good im the whole of the western part of 
Europe* ; while on the contrary, the Bison appears to have been 
far more numerous in its eastern parts, and far into west Asia, 
where it is yet found in great numbers between the Black 
and the Caspian seas. And that the Urus belonged to the 
western tracts of Europe, which being thickly peopled and culti- 
vated before the eastern parts, might also be a reason that it was, 
as wild, extirpated or passed over into a tame race; while the 
Bison of the east preserved itself much longer in East Prussia 
and Poland, and is even now found in a perfectly wild state in 
those countries most nearly bordering on Asia. This species 
never could be tamed. 
Julius Czesar describes the Urox in his time as being found in 
* In Denmark a vast number of bones belonging to the Urus have been 
found, but as yet not one of the Bison. The Bison skulls which I saw in 
England belonged, if not toa totally different species, at least to a much older 
form than ours. 
