323 



greater part of the other ruminants, there are only thirteen : in the au- 

 roch, the legs are longer and thinner than in the bull or buffalo ; its 

 tongue, also, M. Gilibert observes, is of a blue colour. 



Those naturalists appear to have been mistaken who have supposed 

 that there exist, in the North of Europe, two species, different from each 

 other : one without a bunch, which they term the auroch ; and the other 

 with, which is considered as the bison. The difference appears to be, that 

 which results from the difference of age only ; the old male au?och ac- 

 quiring much longer hairs, and a much larger projection, than exists in 

 the female or the young. The identity of the auroch with the large 

 wild bull or buffalo of America (Bos Americanos, Linn.) is not yet de- 

 termined ; an examination of the osteological characters of its skull is 

 therefore desirable. 



Justice to M. Faujas requires the observation, that M. Cuvier has bv 

 no means established the fact, that the fossil horns of the first species are 

 those of the aurochs ; since he has by no means pointed out any osteo- 

 logical character which can be considered as deciding the question. 



It is very true, that the difference of size alone is not sufficient to de- 

 termine a difference of species. But when the difference of size is enor- 

 mous, the probability of there existing a difference of species is rendered 

 more probable. The prodigious size of these fossil horns is attempted to 

 be accounted for by M. Cuvier, on the consideration, that the horns grow 

 through the whole life of the animal, and that an abundance of nourish- 

 ment, through a long life, might have had a considerable effect in in- 

 creasing the growth of these horns. But a long life does not appear to 

 have been necessary for the production of the large horns of this animal; 

 since M. Cuvier himself observes, of the specimen figured by M. Faujas, 

 that " the skull is of an enormous size, although the individual to which 

 it belonged was not very old, as appeared by the sutures." Nor can the 

 magnitude of the horns be attributed to abundance of nourishment; since, 

 as M. Cuvier observes, in the paragraph just quoted, the skull itself is of 



