ORDER ARTIODACTYLA : EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 537 



gest (p. 162) that the drinking horns that Xenophon found among 

 the Paphlagonians in Asia Minor may have belonged to this species. 

 Radde reports (1893, p. 175) : 



This animal is at present confined to the district around the sources of the 

 Laba and Bjellaja on the north side of the Caucasus, and extends eastwards 

 from the former locality to the springs of the Selentschuk. The Bison is 

 scarce everywhere, and generally seen in twos and threes. . . . Evidently 

 the Bison has discontinued its settled habits, and has taken to wandering about 

 in this, its last refuge. Through the ever increasing encroachments of the 

 settlers, and the consequent dispersal of the wild animals, and also, in many 

 places, owing to the new supervision of the forests, the Bison is driven more 

 and more towards the higher ridges of the mountains. . . . 



Formerly, 30 or 40 years ago, it was met with much lower down, about 

 5000 feet, and it was also more common. . . . 



It is under Imperial protection in the Caucasus. . . . Nevertheless it is 

 very difficult to keep guard over these last remaining animals satisfactorily. 



Prince Demidoff writes (1898, pp. 3-5) : 



Not so long ago the Aurochs [=Bison] used to haunt most of the valleys 

 of the Kouban territories, such as the Zellentchuk, where there are said to 

 be some at the present time, both the Great and Little Laba, Urrushten, 

 and elsewhere. But so shy an animal could not long continue to live within 

 easy reach of men, and had constantly to retire before advancing civilization. 

 It is now concentrated in the dense forests overlooking the valleys of the 

 Kisha, and fifty years hence it is to be feared will have entirely disappeared. 



There is no doubt of the existence of the Aurochs on the southern part 

 of the Caucasian range, between the hills and the Black Sea .... Some 

 thirty years ago, as I was told by native hunters, the Aurochs used to be 

 seen in herds of fifty or sixty head, but at the present time one seldom sees 

 more than five or six together. . . . 



Leopards . . . are supposed to trouble them a great deal. 



Greve (1906) gives a full summary of records of this Bison from 

 1633 to 1906. These records cover roughly the northern slopes of 

 the western half of the Caucasus range. By 1895 the animal seems 

 to have become largely restricted to the basins of the Pshekka, 

 Byelaya, Laba, Kisha, and Zellentchuk Rivers. 



"It is very difficult to prevent poaching, and . . . much ill-feeling 

 has been created by making the natives vacate their grazing grounds, 

 to which they have considered themselves entitled from time imme- 

 morial" (Van der Byl, 1915, p. 43). 



The recent status of the Caucasian Bison is summarized by 

 Pfizenmayer (1929; 1930) as follows: At the outbreak of the World 

 War there were more than 500 individuals; in 1918 there were still 

 100; in 1919, only 50. Reports for the year 1928 give no positive 

 evidence of living individuals. However, in 1930 there was a trust- 

 worthy report of a few survivors in one of the least accessible parts 

 of the Kuban district. 



"The Soviet Government has made a reserve in the Caucasus 



