1866.] DAWKINS POSSIL BTJITISH OXElv^ 399 



tinent, at the close of the Pleistocene it was exposed to exterminating 

 causes that did not obtain in the far larger and wilder area of the 

 European mainland ; it was rare in the two latter periods, and pro- 

 bably became extinct as a wild variety several centuries before the 

 species (or variety) on the continent was driven" away from the 

 Hercynian Forest and the banks of the Danube. In Pleistocene times 

 it wandered in vast herds over Northern, Central, and Western 

 Europe, and, according to Bojanus, over Southern llussia, and, in 

 company with the Woolly Phinoceros (li. tichorimis) and the Mam- 

 moth, frequently fell a prey to the Cave-hyena and the Cave-lion. 

 In the Prehistoric deposits of Prance, Germany, and Scandinavia 

 its remains are very abundant, and in the latter district prove that 

 it was far more numerous than the contemporary Bison. 



That the animal was hunted at this early date in Scania is proved 

 by the discovery by Professor Nilsson of a skeleton which had been 

 pierced with a javelin. It was found at a depth of 10 feet, at the 

 bottom of a peat-bog, and " lay with its head downwards ; and one 

 of its horns (horn-cores) had penetrated deep into the blue clay 

 which formed the bottom under the peat"*. The evidence that the 

 animal fell by the hand of man is indeed perfectly incontrovertible. 



The dwellers on the Pile- works of the Swiss lakes have also left 

 numerous remains of Bos urus among the bones that have been found 

 surrounding the rotten piles, in association with other varieties of 

 oxen, for the discussion of which I must refer to the works of Dr. 

 Eiitimeyer, of Basle. 



In Historic times the animal has been frequently mentioned, first 

 by Caesar, as a dweller in the Hercynian Porest along with the Elk and 

 Bison. Its name occurs also in the writings of Pliny, Martial, and 

 Seneca, in passages which must be famihar to those who have studied 

 the works of Professors Mlsson and Owen, and of Mr. Henry Woods, 

 who has described so ably the ox-head found at Melksham, near Bath f. 

 There are, however, other and later notices of the animal scattered 

 through the records of Prance and Germany from the 6th to the 

 12th centuries, that have not as yet attracted the attention they merit 

 in this country. The chronicler of the life of St. Karilef, the 

 founder of the Abbey of St. Calais, happens incidentally to mention 

 an interview that the hermit saint had with Childebert, the son of 

 ClovisJ. It came to pass in this way: the king happened to be 

 out hunting in the Province of Maine abou.t the year a.d. 540, and 

 having started a fine ox — rare game in that district- — he chased it 

 with his dogs right into the hermit's cell, where he found it standing 

 behind his back. This passage proves two things — that the Bu- 

 balus or Wild Ox occurred sometimes in the Province of Maine, and 



* Op. cit. p. 264. t Op. cif. 



\ Erat spectabile Tidere bubulum qui in ea proTinciti difficile est inventu 



Invenimus in quodam tugurio hominem nobis cognitum posttergum 



illius adstantem bubulum. Unde vobis, O incognita personse ! tanta presump- 



tionis audacia, ut ausi sitis nostra; venationis dignitatem mutilare ? 



(Vit. S. Karilefi, c. 4, 14, 20.) This quotation is taken from ' Les 



Moines d' Occident,' par le Comte de Montalembert : Paris, 8vo (1860) : vol. ii. 

 p. 362. I have had no opportunity of verifying it. 



