512 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Szalay (1930) concludes that the color of the north European 

 animal was deep blackish brown in the bull, more or less dark 

 brown in the cow, and reddish brown in the calf... "It must have 

 been a huge animal, probably standing at least six feet high at 

 the shoulders, and with horns not very unlike those of the modern 

 Chillingham cattle, only very much larger. The horns usually have 

 an outward and forward curvature at first, after which they bend 

 somewhat upwards and inwards." (Lydekker, 1898, p. 13.) 



Pleistocene remains of Bos primigenius are known from France, 

 Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, 

 Hungary, Denmark, southern Sweden, and Russia as far as Siberia 

 (Mertens, 1906, p. 48). Here, however, we are concerned only with 

 the animal's status during historical times. The following account 

 is derived mainly from Mertens (1906) and from Lydekker (1912, 

 pp. 37-67). 



Julius Caesar, writing about 65 B. C. (De Bello Gallico, bk. 6, 

 chap. 29), describes the "Ur" in the forests of Germany. It was 

 captured in pitfalls, and the horns were used for drinking vessels. 

 It also appeared from time to time in the Roman arena (Jennison, 

 1937, p. 167). 



In the sixth century the poet Fortunatus and Gregorius, Bishop 

 of Tours, refer to the hunting of these animals in the "Wasgen- 

 wald" (Vosges Mountains). At the same period wild bulls were 

 said to be found in the Province of Maine, in France; and during 

 the ninth century Charlemagne hunted the Aurochs near Aix-la- 

 Chapelle. At the close of the tenth century the flesh of this animal 

 is mentioned as an article of food at an abbey in Switzerland. The 

 Aurochs was met with by Crusaders passing through Germany in 

 the eleventh century. According to the Niebehmgenlied, Siegfried 

 slaughtered four of the animals in the vicinity of Worms during 

 the twelfth century. In 1170 their occurrence in the Rhine district 

 is mentioned by Von Aue. Aurochs horns mounted as drinking- 

 cups were formerly preserved in many inns, churches, and castles 

 in South Germany and Alsace-Lorraine. An old account book 

 shows that the species still occurred up to about 1409, though per- 

 haps rarely, in East Prussia and Lithuania. At this period, how- 

 ever, it had disappeared in the remainder of Germany and in 

 Western Europe, and even its name became gradually confused 

 with that of the Wisent. Doubtless its disappearance was due 

 largely to the clearing of the extensive primeval forests in which it 

 lived, while hunting also contributed to its extermination. 



After about 1409 Poland seems to have been the sole remaining 

 refuge for the Aurochs. In 1298 Duke Boleslaus of Masovia had 

 prohibited its hunting, and in 1359 Duke Ziemovit of Masovia 



