FAMILY BOVID.E ; URUS, BISON. 303 



inclined to regard our domestic Ox as the descendant of a wild 

 species, which formerly inhabited the forests of central Europe, 

 and which was described by Caesar and other ancient authors 

 under the name of the Urus. This appears from historical 

 records to have been far superior in size, and especially in the 

 dimensions of its horns, to any wild Oxen now existing in 

 Europe ; and these accounts are confirmed by the fact, that fossil 

 skulls of very large dimensions, with the cores of massive horns, 

 are abundant in the newer strata of Europe. In a specimen 

 found at Melksham, the distance between the ends of the cores 

 was four feet ; and the space between the tips of the horns must of 

 course have been much greater : from this we may form an idea 

 of the size of the ancient Urus, which was doubtless described truly 

 as a savage, untameable animal. The Urus of modern 



155. EUROPEAN BISON. 



ists is the Aurochs or European Bison, which inhabits the 

 forests of Lithuania ; it is an animal of great bulk and strength, 

 and of considerable ferocity. Such is its innate wildness, that 



