ANCIENT AND EXTINCT BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 139 
Britain and on the Continent.* The finest bulls of the Lithuanian 
breed stand about five feet six inches at the withers, whilst, 
according to Richardson, the American Bison is upwards of six 
feet in height. The fossil British Aurochs, as compared with 
these, must have frequently reached a height of seven feet at the 
shoulder. The Grisly Bear is at present one of the most formid- 
able enemies to the American Aurochs, as doubtless was also the 
case in bygone times on British soil. 
THE LoNG-FRONTED or SMALL Fosstt Ox is considered by Prof. 
Owen to be an ancient and distinct species which sojourned with 
the other oxen, bears, elephants, and like extinct quadrupeds. It 
seems to have been very plentiful in Ireland, and survived at all 
events up to the human, and most likely the historical, period, in 
which cattle are frequently noticed in old Irish MSS.,t but of 
course not described with the necessary exactness to enable us to 
determine the species or breed. In bogs, and the deposits of 
lakes, especially in those of Loch Gur, its bones and skulls have 
been found in numbers. Many of the latter show fractured inden- 
tations on the forehead. { 
The antiquity of the Long-fronted Ox has been lately disputed 
by Professor Boyd Dawkins, who is of opinion that this Ox and 
the Goat were brought to Great Britain from the Continent by 
man long after the larger animals had disappeared—some time in 
the period which intervened between the commencement of the 
formation of bogs on the ancient Irish lakes, and the first historical 
evidence of the animals of the country. It is doubtful, however, 
whether or not we have sufficient evidence as to the exact antiquity 
of this Short-horned Ox. It would seem that remains have 
recently been found both in conjunction with the Bison and Giant 
Ox, Elephant, and Rhinoceros in England, and in lacustrine marls 
in Ireland, associated with bones of the Great-horned Deer. 
Looked on in connection with the origin of our cattle, it seems 
at all events, whether descended from the Urus or any other wild 
* The American Bison has fifteen pairs of ribs, while the Kuropean has fourteen. 
As regards the Aurochs, no fossil skeleton hus been found sufficiently perfect to show 
the exact number of ribs it possessed.—Ep. 
+ Inacurious Irish MS. of the ninth century, wild oxen are spoken of as inhabiting 
the county of Clare,—A. L. A. 
+ Many of these cuts are small, and may have been produced by blows from the 
narrow bronze hatchets (celts) plentifully discovered throughout the country.— 
A.L. As 
