THE BOOILE MAMMALS. 



mi 



like it are now living in the Shetland Islands and in Wales. 

 It was of small size^ with slender legs, and erect, short 

 horns. This sheep was supplanted by a form with large, 

 curved horns, the modern domestic sheep. 



We now come to the bison and ox. The American bison 

 {Bison America mis) is now nearly exterminated, being 

 mainly restricted to two small herds on the Western plains. 

 It is closely allied to the European bison {Bison Etiro- 

 pcBus), the "aurochs," now preserved in the forests of Po- 

 laud, and living wild in Caucasus. Bos primigenius. 



Fig. 255.— Skeleton of the Cow. 



which in the time of Caesar lived in Germany and England, 

 bearing the name "urus," is the "ur" of the Nibelungen 

 Song. From it have descended the half -wild cattle in cer- 

 tain English parks, also certain large domestic races, such 

 as the Holstein and Priesland breeds. Prom another fossil 

 species {Bos longifrons) arose the so-called brown cattle of 

 Switzerland, and the "runts" of the Scottish Highlands. 

 Still other domestic races are traced back to another fossil 

 Quaternary species. Bos frontosus. Our present races of 

 domestic cattle, therefore, do not represent a genuine spe- 



