150 THE AUROCHS AND ELK. 



species.* It is mentioned by Caesar, who describes it as 

 being little smaller than an elephant. (Hi sunt magnitudine 

 paulo infra elephantos, specie et colore et figura tauri.) 

 According to Herberstein, it still existed in Germany during 

 the sixteenth century, soon after which, however, it must 

 have become extinct. 



The aurochs, or European bison, seems to have disappeared 

 from Western Europe, at about the same period as the urus. 

 There is no historical record of its existence in England or 

 Scandinavia. In Switzerland we cannot trace it later than 

 the tenth century ; but it is mentioned in the " Niebelungen 

 Lied/* of the twelfth century, as occurring in the Forest of 

 Worms, and in Prussia the last was killed in the year 1775. 

 At one period, indeed, it appears to have inhabited almost 

 the whole of Europe, much of Asia, and part even of America, 

 but at present it is confined in Europe to the imperial forests 

 in Lithuania, where it is preserved by the Emperor of Russia ; 

 while, according to Nordmann and Von Baer, it still exists 

 in some parts of Western Asia. 



We have no notice of the existence of the elk in Switzer- 

 land during the historical period, but it is mentioned by 

 Csesar as existing in the great Hercynian forest ; and even 

 in the twelfth century it was to be met with in Sclavonia 

 and Hungary, according to Albertus Magnus and Gresner. 

 In Saxony, the death of the last is recorded as having oc- 

 curred in 1746. At present it inhabits Prussia and Lithuania, 

 Finland and Russia, Scandinavia and Siberia, to the shores 

 of the Amoor. 



The ibex disappeared from most of the Swiss Alps, perhaps 

 not much later than the elk. It has lingered longest in the 

 West. In Glarus the last one perished in 1550, though near 



* Prof. Riitimeyer, however, con- though dwarfish, descendants of the 

 siders that the celebrated wild cattle of B. primigenius. 

 Park are unmistakeable, 



