80 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



arrived in 1847. They consisted of a pair of young 

 animals which, through the influence of Sir R. I. 

 Murchison, had been presented by the Czar 

 Nicholas I. to the Zoological Society. Fifty 

 foresters and three hundred beaters were employed 

 in driving the forest ; a keeper was sent as far as 

 Memel to take charge of the animals, which were in 

 fairly good condition. The Council awarded the 

 silver medal to Sir R. Murchison and M. Dolmatoff, 

 the master of the imperial forest of Bialowicsa. 

 Unfortunately, the male bison died in the following 

 year from inflammation of the lungs, being two 

 years and five months old. In September, 1848, 

 the animal suddenly began to fail, and refused 

 its food; feverish and exhausted by impeded 

 respiration, it died about a week later. Sir 

 Richard Owen, who dissected the carcase, found 

 that the whole right lung was congested, being 

 glued to the pericardium by adhesions ; and there 

 was also bronchitis. In 1849 the female, together 

 with three American bison, succumbed to pleuro- 

 pneumonia. In 1860 a pair of bison were sent to 

 St. Petersburg ; and about this time the Emperor 

 Franz Josef presented a three year old bull and a two 

 year old cow to the Dresden collection. The cow 

 calved in 1860, but treated her offspring badly 

 and trampled on it, so that it died ; another calf, 

 however, lived. A specimen was exhibited in 

 the Berlin Zoological Gardens about 1864; and 



