OSBORy. REVIEW OF THE PLEI&TOCE'SE 279 



cephalic cranial proportions, its long-crowned teeth, and especially in the 

 presence of a square upper lip and very large anterior horn and small 

 posterior horn. It is thus distinguished both by the proportions of its 

 horns and by the characters of its teeth and lips from the two species of 

 Dicer orhinus. It is distinctively a grazing animal. 



Synonomy of Rhinoceros Genera 



1. Indian rhinoceros : R. mdicus = Rhinoceros Linnseus 1758 



2, Black rhinoceros of Africa : D. Wcornis = Diceros Gray 1821 



o. Woolly rhinoceros: R. antiquitatis (Blumenbach 1799) = Ccelodonta Bronn 

 1831 



4, Sumatran rhinoceros : D. sumatrensis = Dicerorhinus Gloger 1841 



5. White rhinoceros of Africa: D. simj/s ==: Ceratorhinus Gray 1867 



The names of these three rhinoceroses are almost hopelessly confused 

 in the early literature. The animals converge toward each other in sev- 

 eral characters, namely, in the loss of cutting teeth and in the develop- 

 ment of an osseous septum for the support of the nasal bones. The 

 woolly rhinoceros {D. antiquitatis) is first recorded in Europe in deposits 

 correlated with the Third Glacial or Eiss Stage, the Mammut Lehm of 

 Cannstatt (Koken, Schmidt, 1912). 



B ovine s. — The bison {B. priscus) rivalled the mammoth as a wanderer 

 and was able to adapt itself to wide diversities of climate in Europe. 

 Asia and America. Originally of African- Asiatic origin it became thor- 

 oughly acclimated as a Eurasiatic meadow and plains type and may have 

 extended also into the forests like the existing woodland bison (B. atha- 

 hascce) of Canada. It is readily distinguished as brachycephalic while 

 its contemporary, the gigantic urus, is long-headed (dolichocephalic), 

 as well as less agile than the bison. In external appearance, as depicted 

 in the ver}^ numerous engravings and paintings in the Font de Gaume 

 and other caverns, this animal resembled the existing American bison 

 (B. americanus) more than the still surviving Lithuanian and Caucasian 

 form {B. honasus). The animal appears in the First Interglacial, or 

 ISTorfolkian Stage in France. In the Second long warm Interglacial 

 Stage there existed a bison (B. prisctbs antiquus) which enjoyed a wide 

 distribution. The animal found its way to the Mediterranean islands 

 and gave rise to the pigmy varieties. 



The wild ox (Bos primigenius) also occurs in the First Interglacial 

 Stage and survived the vicissitudes of the entire Pleistocene Epoch. The 

 ^^urus" of Caesar survived in its wild state in Europe as late as the seven- 

 teenth century A. D., where it was still to be found in the forests of 

 Poland and in a few game preserves. It then disappeared so completely 



