148 RACES OF OXEN. 



surfaces. In the consideration of the remains of oxen, these 

 distinctions have proved of the greatest importance. By their 

 assistance, and this is in many respects one of the most 

 interesting parts of the work, Prof. Rutimeyer has convinced 

 himself that besides the two wild species of bos, namely, 

 the urus (B. primigenius) and the aurochs (B. bison or Bison 

 Europceus), three domestic races of oxen occur in Pileworks. 



The first of these is allied to, and in his opinion descended 

 from, the urus, and he therefore calls it the Primigenius race. 

 This variety occurs in all the Pileworks of the Stone period. 

 The second or Trochoceros race, he correlates with a fossil 

 species described under this name by F. von Meyer, from the 

 diluvium of Arezzo and Siena. This variety has hitherto 

 only been found at Concise. 



The third, or Longifrons race, is by far the most common 

 of the three. It occurs in all the Pileworks, and at Moos- 

 seedorf and Wangen that is to say, in the settlements which 

 are supposed to be the oldest almost to the exclusion of the 

 Primigenius race. Prof. Riitimeyer considers that it is the 

 domesticated form of B. longifrons of Owen, but as the word 

 "longifrons" seems to him to be inappropriate and. incorrect, 

 he uses the name " brachyceros," which was originally pro- 

 posed in manuscript by Owen for this species, but which has 

 also been used by Gray for an African species, and ought 

 not therefore to be adopted, 



A subsequent portion of the work is devoted to the ex- 

 amination of the existing races of European oxen. The old 

 Trochoceros race Prof. Rutimeyer considers to be extinct, but 

 he sees in the great oxen of Friesland, Jutland, and Holstein, 

 the descendants of the Bos primigenius. This race does not 

 now occur in Switzerland, but he considers that there are at 

 present in that country two distinct varieties of domestic 

 oxen. The one of various shades between light grey and 

 dark brown, but without spots, and prevailing in Schwyz, 



