RISON PRTSCUS. 



491 



RUMfiVANTfA. 



BOVIDjE. 



Fig. 205. 



Fossil frontlet and horn-cores of Aurochs, pliocene clay, Woolwich. 

 (The rest of the skull restored in outline.) 



BISON PRISCUS, Great Fossil Aurochs. 



Aurochs fossile, CUVIER, Ann. du Mus. xii. pp. 379, 386, tab. 



xxxiv. figs. 1, 2, 4, 5. Ossem. Foss. iv. tab. xi. 



fig. 5, tab. xii. figs. 1, 2, 6, 7. 



Bos (Bison) prisons, BOJANUS, Nov. Acta. Acad. Nat. Cur. t. xiii. 



Bos priscus, H. v. MEYER, ib. t. xvii. p. 1. 



Urus priscus, OWEN, Report of British Association, 1 343, p. 232 



WHEN the forests of Germany and Belgium were first 

 penetrated by the Roman armies, there were found, 

 amongst other beasts of chase, two large species of wild 

 oxen ; the one called " Bison" distinguished by its shaggy 

 coat, the other called " Urus " by the great size of its 

 horns. Both these species continued to exist to later 

 periods of the Empire, and were occasionally captured and 

 exhibited alive in the shows of the amphitheatre. 



