THE BO VINES 355 



Europe as far west as England, as far south as Spain and Italy, 

 and as far north as the coasts of the Baltic. It inhabited the 

 whole of Russia, except, perhaps, those portions that were under 

 ice. Its degenerate descendants known as Bos bonasus, or the 

 European bison, still linger to the extent of a few hundred in 

 Polish (Lithuanian) forests and in the Caucasus. The modern 

 bisons in America and Europe differ from other cattle in the 

 exaggeration of the spines growing up from the vertebrae at 

 the end of the neck and beginning of the back. These 

 serve to support a hump that is more or less evident, and 

 which is sometimes added to enormously by an immense 

 growth of fat and muscle. In the bison the horn cores are 

 set very widely apart. There is also a tendency to develop 

 excessive growth of hair on the forehead, under the chin, and 

 along the neck. 



Bos priscus. The Extinct European Bison 



Bos priscus differed from modern European bisons in the 

 much longer and straighter horns, the ends of which were turned 

 up and slightly back as they are in the existing bison of Poland 

 and the Caucasus. It was also much larger in size than the 

 modern form. It did co-exist in Britain with early man, but 

 disappeared not long after man's arrival, giving way, no doubt, 

 in part before the rivalry of the larger and more powerful 

 aurochs. It does not appear to have reached Scotland, and its 

 remains have never been found in Ireland. Its northern limit, 

 as was the case with the lion and so many other beasts, was the 

 county of Yorkshire. Westwards it seems to have extended to 

 the borders of Wales. On the Continent of Europe it lingered 

 on far into the Historical Epoch. It abounded in France in 

 extraordinary numbers, and has constantly been depicted by 

 Prehistoric man. 



In Germany, the Balkan Peninsula, and Russia (where, no 

 doubt, it was actually differentiating into the existing type, "Bos 

 bonasus) it was still abundant down to the Middle Ages. It was 



