THE 



QUAETERLY JOUMAL 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Maech 21, 1866. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. On the Fossil British Oxen. Part I. Bos Ueus, Ccesar 

 By W. BosTD Dawkins, M.A., P.G.S. 



Contents. 



4. Measurements. 



5. Eange in space and time. 



6. Eelation to domestic races. 



1. Introdtjction. 



1. Introduction. 



2. Characters. 



3. Synonyms. 



Since the publication of Professor Owen's great work on the 

 British Fossil Mammalia in the year 1846, no addition has been 

 made to our knowledge of the British Fossil Oxen, while on 

 the continent Professor Nilsson, of Lund, has described with a 

 master's hand those of Scandinavia, and Dr. Eiitimeyer, of Basle, those 

 found in the Pile-works of Switzerland. In the meanwhile a large 

 amount of information with reference to them has been obtained from 

 the bone-caves and river-deposits of Britain, and from the peat-bogs 

 and marls below of Britain and Ireland, for the most part unpub- 

 lished or scattered about in disjointed fragments through the nume- 

 rous scientific and archaeological journals of the day. 



The relics of the food of the Koman legions stationed in Britain, 

 and of the Eomano-British, and the contents of their tombs, and 

 especially many incidental notices of wild oxen in the historians 

 from the time of Charlemagne down to the end of the 12th century, 

 afford remarkable evidence as to the date down to which the wild 

 oxen lived in continental Europe and in Britain. To collect all these 

 isolated facts together, and to give an outline of the characters of 

 each species or variety, and to define their range, so far as may be, 



VOL. XXII. PART I. 2 E 



