249 



THE AUROCH. 



THE European Bison, very imperfectly known, is 

 said to inhabit the forests of Russia in Asia, but is 

 also supposed to be thinly scattered in some of the 

 wilder parts of Germany and Poland. It is about 

 six feet high at the shoulder. The fore parts are 

 clothed with woolly hair above a foot in length, grey 

 or whitish. On the legs and under parts it becomes 

 shorter, and is of a blackish-brown colour. The fore- 

 head is convex, the horns short and pointed. The 

 number of ribs on each side fourteen. They are 

 said to live in small troops, and to have a groaning 

 voice. It is the Auroch of the Germans. 



Dr von Jarocki gave the following account of the 

 Auroch before the Meeting of Naturalists at Ham- 

 burgh in 1830 : " A remnant of these animals, which 

 appear to have at one period existed in many parts 

 of Europe, is still preserved in a wild state in the 

 forest of Bialowiza in Poland, under the special pro- 

 tection of the Russian Emperor, in which situation 

 the author, who is Professor of Zoology in the Uni- 

 versity of Warsaw, has had opportunities of observ- 

 ing them, and of collecting various facts respecting 

 their habits and mode of life. 



" The wild oxen of the forest of Bialowiza live 



