500 



domestic ox ; whence we may infer that it resembled the 

 ox in the close nature of its hairy covering 1 , which would 

 make the shaggy coat and the mane of the Aurochs more 

 remarkable by comparison. 



It is much to be regretted, for the interests of Zoology, 

 that the great Hercynian Uri have been less favoured 

 than their contemporary Bisontes jubati in the progress of 

 human civilization, and that no individuals now remain for 

 study and comparison, like the Aurochs of Lithuania. 



My esteemed friend Professor Bell, who has written the 

 History of existing British Quadrupeds, is disposed to 

 believe, with Cuvier and most other naturalists, that 

 our domestic cattle are the degenerate descendants of the 

 great Urus.* But it seems to me more probable that the 

 herds of the newly conquered regions would be derived 

 from the already domesticated cattle of the Roman co- 

 lonists, of those " boves nostri," for example, by comparison 

 with which Ceesar endeavoured to convey to his country- 

 men an idea of the stupendous and formidable Uri of the 

 Hercynian forests. 



The taming of such a species would be a much more 

 difficult and less certain mode of supplying the exigencies 

 of the agriculturist, than the importation of the breeds of 

 oxen already domesticated and in use by the founders of 

 the new colonies. And, that the latter was the chief, if 

 not sole, source of the herds of England, when its soil 

 began to be cultivated under the Roman sway, is strongly 

 indicated by the analogy of modern colonies. The domes- 

 tic cattle, for example, of the Anglo-Americans have not 

 been derived from tamed descendants of the original wild 



* " I cannot but consider it extremely probable that these fossil remains be- 

 longed to the original wild condition of our domestic Ox." BclCs British Quud- 

 rupeds, p. 414. 



