THE ruus.] 



C ATT r. K A X 1) Til !•: I K V A I^ I K TIES. [i-atuiauciial acjks. 



aB a white variety of the fossil Bpecies Bos 

 primifffiiius ; whilo Mr. Swaiiison bclievos it to 

 be the descemlaiit of u smiiller spi'cies belonp;- 

 ing to the same genus as the Bos primigmius, 

 or anoioiit urus, of wliit-h "the skiilKs exhibit 

 the type of a form essentially dillereut from 

 that of tho domestic ox." 



" All these skulls," he eontinucs, " are nearly 

 one-third larger than those of the Bos Taurus ; 

 they are square from the orbits to the oceipital 

 crest, and somewhat hollow at tho forehead. 

 Tire horus, placed at the side of tho above 

 crest, show a peeuliar rise from their roots up- 

 wards ; then bending outwards, and then for- 

 wards and inwards. No domestic races show 

 this turn; but numerous specimens of inferior 

 edzes, found fossil in the Cornish mines, have 

 this shape; and the wild bull of Scotland, the 

 ouly example of this type now known to exist, 

 retains it. Tho domestic oxen, on the con- 

 trary, of whatsoever country or breed they may 

 be, have the square concave forehead, with the 

 horns rising: from the ends of the frontal ridije 

 * * * * It appears, then, that the ancient 

 urus, or wild bull, was a perfectly wild, savage, 

 and uutameable animal : not only does every 

 account handed down from remote antiquity 

 assure us of this, but it is even verified by the 

 only living example of this form we possess — 

 the Bos Scoticiis, still preserved in one or two 

 of the northern parks. Although domesti- 

 cated so far as to live within such precincts 

 without absolute unprovoked violence to its 

 keepers, it retains essentially all the savage 

 characters ascribed to the more powerful spe- 

 cies mentioned by the ancients." As to the 

 specific identity of the white oxen of Chilling- 

 ham with our ordinary breed, some have no 

 doubt on the subject. In size, form, and aspect 

 they resemble the finer breeds of black cattle ; 

 and the query is, not — Are they distinct ? but — 

 Are they the descendants of a wild breed, or, on 

 the contrary, the descendants of domesticated 

 individuals, which have .-esumed their wild 

 character, " from having ceased to feel, through 

 many generations, the efiects of human domi- 

 nation ?" The latter is suspected. "With 

 regard to Cuvier's Bos primigenius, granting 

 it to be the urus of Caesar, it is not so easy to 

 determine whether it was the wild type of the 

 domestic ox. Its vast size, and the extra- 

 ordinary magnitude of the horns, to say nothing 



of its ferocity, and tho probability that it ia to 

 Central Asia, rather than to tho wild forests of 

 Central Eurojje, that we ou;,'ht to look for tho 

 type of tho domestic raeo (or race.s ?), uro BufH- 

 cient to beget a doubt. 



The term urus is evidently identical with the 

 terms aurr, ur, aueroeh.s, ure-ox, tho root also 

 of the word taurus ; and we agree witli Mr. 

 Woods, in the belief that the aurochs, or urc- 

 ox, of the ancient Germans, was the urus of 

 Ciesar ; but that the word, on tho extinction of 

 that animal, became transferred to the bison of 

 the ancients, now known as the aurochs ; and 

 also under names derived from a different root, 

 as zubr (Lithuanian), zimbr (Moldavian), bison, 

 vison, wisont, and wisant; whence bonasus, 

 monasus, &c. 



Besides the Bos primigenius, the following 

 fossil species of ox have been named : — Bos 

 trechocerus (Hermann von Neyer), subapen- 

 uine^beds; Bos (Bison) priscus (Bonjanus), 

 BuJJIe fossile de Sibcrie (Cuv.), Bos latifrons 

 (Marian), Broadheaded fossil Bison and Bison 

 fossilis, " diluvium" of Europe and I^orth Ame- 

 rica, bone-caves and bone breccias ; Bos (Bi- 

 sou) ? lomlifrons (Harlan), Big-bone-lick, 

 North America ; Bos Fallasii (Dekay), Bos 

 moscluitus fossilis? Bos canalicuhilus (Fischer)? 

 Siberia and North America , Bos vclaunus 

 (Robert), Cussac, Haute Loire. 



Abundant remains of tho ox were found by 

 Captain Cautley in the Sewalik Mountains, at 

 the southern foot of the Himalayas, between 

 the Sutlej and the Ganges, partly lying on the 

 slopes among the ruins of fallen cliffs, and 

 partly in situ in tho sandstone, in company 

 with the bones of the mastodon, elephant, rliino- 

 ceros, hippopotamus, hog, horse (comparatively 

 scarce), elk, deer, several varieties ; carnivora, 

 canine and feline (comparatively scarce) ; cro- 

 codile, gavial, emys, trionyx, and fishes. There 

 were also portions of undescribed mammalia. 



CATTLE IN THE PATRIARCHAL AGES. 

 To Asia and its border-lands let us turn our 

 attention — regions in which the ox, from tho 

 earliest epoch, has been in a state of domesti- 

 cation, and where this animal, with sheep and 

 goats, constituted the riches of patriarchs, and 

 chiefs, or princes, who. deemed it not beneath 

 them to take an active interest in the manage- 

 ment of their flocks and herds. In that age of 



613 



