88 BOS PRIMIGENIUS. 



in prehistoric remains there is every reason to suppose urus was 

 feral and had never come under the domestication of man as a pure 

 breed. The postglacial mammals of England, exclusive of those 

 which are indigenous, are the brown-bear, great Irish deer, elk, 

 reindeer, urus, long-fronted ox, aurochs or bison, otter, beaver, 

 wolf, wild cat, &c. Of these the brown-bear was a native of 

 England during, and probably for some time after, the Roman 

 occupation. The beaver had become scarce before the close of the 

 ninth century. The wolf was extirpated in the north of England 

 in the reign of Henry VIII. The reindeer, elk, and the great 

 Irish deer probably became extinct in England in days long 

 anterior to the Roman invasion. 



The woodcut at the head of this memoir represents the skull of 

 Urus primigenius, presented to the County Museum by Walter 

 Fletcher, Esq. It was found in the year 1884, twelve feet below 

 the bed of the river, by the workmen when excavating for the 

 foundation of a new iron bridge at West Stour, over which the 

 main road from Sherborne to Shaftesbury passes. The skull was 

 associated with a large quantity of bones and trunks of trees, 

 principally Wych elm. 



