440 



ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 



Europe at the present day. Remains, however, of this large 

 ox are found in various prehistoric deposits. 



The Bos longifrons of Owen, or " Small Short-horn," is in a 

 similar position to the Aurochs. According to Mr Boyd 

 Dawkins, this form (which is identical with the Bos frontosus 

 of Nilsson) has not been proved to occur in any Post-Pliocene 

 deposit, though it occurs plentifully in the bone-caves and 

 alluvia of the Recent or prehistoric period. It is believed by 

 the same high authority that the Bos longifrons is the ancestor 

 of our present Welsh or Scotch Cattle. 



The Urus or Wild Bull (Bos primigenius\ though much 

 larger than our ordinary oxen, is believed to be specifically 

 undistinguishable from the domestic Ox (Bos taurus\ and it 

 was probably the parent of the larger varieties of European 



Fig- 358. Skull of the Urus (Bos primigenius). Post-Pliocene and Recent. 



Oxen. It was a contemporary of the Mammoth, Woolly 

 Rhinoceros, Cave Lion, Cave Bear, Irish Elk, and other Post- 

 Pliocene Mammals, and it was in existence up to at least the 

 twelfth century. 



The last of the Oxen which deserves notice is the curious 

 Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus). This singular animal is at the 

 present day a native of Arctic America, and is remarkable for 

 the great length of the hair. It is called the Musk-ox, because 

 it gives out a musky odour. Like the Reindeer, the Musk-ox 

 had formerly a much wider geographical range than it has at 

 present the conditions of climate which are necessary for its 

 existence having at that time extended over a veiy much 



