COLOUR OF THE UBUS. 27 



Kingdom " (an English elaboration of Cuvier's " Eegne 

 Animal "), copied from an old painting found in the 

 hands of a dealer at Augsburg. The finder, it is pre- 

 sumed, was Major Charles Hamilton Smith, one of Mr. 

 Griffith's associates in bringing out the work, who con- 

 tributed this account ; he represents the picture as being 

 " an old painting on panel of indifferent merit, which, 

 judging from the style of drawing, &c, may date from 

 the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In the 

 corner were the remains of armorial bearings, and the 

 word Thur in golden German characters nearly effaced." 

 The colour of the dewlap, at least, was " sooty black ; " 

 it does not quite appear from the description whether 

 the whole animal was represented as of this colour, but 

 in the coloured engraving given this bull is of a tawny 

 light black, which might even be called brown. On the 

 legs the colour is a light brown ; on the lower parts of 

 them very light brown • the horns strong, and of con- 

 siderable length, white with black tips ; the chin and 

 lower lip white, the only part of the body which is so. 



I cannot think that much can be built upon a 

 picture like this, of uncertain origin and date, and 

 with the name in the corner half effaced. Granting, 

 however, that it was correctly read, it seems to be 

 rather a Polish word than a German one; and as- 

 suming that the supposed date of the picture is a 

 correct one — a circumstance which does not admit of 

 proof — it must be remembered that this picture was 

 taken at a time when the Bos urus was, if not ab- 

 solutely extinct, on the very verge of extinction in 

 Germany. In Poland and some neighbouring countries 

 it seems that it may have lingered a little longer. 

 Under such circumstances its continued existence would 



