394 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 21, 



The Grermaii Urox, Aurochs, and the Gaur of Hindoostan are 

 therefore etymologically one and the same, and mean primarily wild 

 or forest oop, but are used to denote three distinct species. To pass 

 over the latter species of Hindostan, with which we have nothing to 

 do in this place, the term Aurochs has been restricted to the Euro- 

 pean Bison by the authority of Buffon, Cuvier, and Professor Owen ; 

 the term Urox, or Bos urus, to the species under consideration by 

 Julius Caesar, Pliny, the chronicler of ' The Wars of Charlemagne ' *, 

 and other writers of the 6th to the 12th centuries ; also by Cuvier, 

 Nilsson, and our great naturalist Professor Owen. The Polish 

 "Thur" is simply another form of the root ur, and signifies wild ox. 



A reference to Dr. Pischer's great work (Synopsis Mammalium, 

 8vo, Stutgardtiae, 1829, pp. 497-498) vrill show the confusion that 

 exists between the Urox and Aurochs in the works of the older Euro- 

 pean naturalists, and will obviate the necessity of my giving details 

 in this place. 



The large fossil ox of the Pleistocene period, termed Bos primi- 

 genius by Bojanus and Professor Owen, differs in no respect from 

 the Bos uriis of the Prehistoric and Historical period. 



4. Measurements. 



The following measurements show that there was a consider- 

 able difference in size between the individuals of the Bos urus. 

 They are all reduced to inches and tenths, for the sake of ease of 

 comparison. The first skull that Cuvier mentions (op. cit. pp. 150-151, 

 pi. iii. figs. 3-8) presents a 



in. 



Width between the horn-cores of 12'8 



orbits 12-9 



Circumference of horn-core 12*9 



Length of horn-cores following curvature 27 '9 



Distance between their tips '. 32'5 



Cuvier observes of this skull that, according to the proportion of the 

 Bos taurus, it would belong to an animal 12 feet long and 6*5 feet 

 high at the withers. 



The dimensions of a second and more perfect skull, dug from the 

 peat-bog of Saint- Vrain in the canton of Arpajon (op. cit. pi. xi. 

 figs. 1, 2, 3), indicate an animal of considerably smaller size than the 

 preceding — 



in. 



Extreme length from occipital crest to end of premaxillary 25*75 



Distance between orbits ll"o 



Horn-core to born-core ITO 



Diameter of horn-core at base 5*5 



Distance between tips of horn-cores 24-8 



Height of occipital crest from the bottom of the foramen magnum 8-8 

 Maximum width of occipital surface between the two mastoid 



processes 12"0 



Antero-posterior extent of palate 12'08 



Length of skull from the foramen magnum to anterior edge of 

 premaxillaries 2205 



* Monachi Sangallensis Lib, ii. de Eebus Bellicis Caroli Magni, c, xi. 



