THE WILD OX OF EUROPE 299 
under his own immediate supervision and direction. It 
has been suggested that the figure of the aurochs was 
taken from a domesticated ox, but Messrs. Nehring and 
Schiemenz have shown that this is quite a mistaken idea. 
Not the least important feature of the work of Herberstain 
is the application of the name “aurochs” to the wild ox, 
as distinct from the bison. The locality where aurochs 
survived in Herberstain’s time was the forest of Jakto- 
zowka, situated about fifty-five kilometres west-south-west 
of Warsaw, in the provinces of Bolemow and Sochaczew. 
From other evidence it appears that the last aurochs was 
killed in this forest in the year 1627. It is important 
to notice that Herberstain describes the colour of the aurochs 
as black, and this is confirmed by another old picture 
of the animal. Gesner’s figure of the aurochs, or, as he 
calls it, “‘thur,” given in his “ History of Animals,” pub- 
lished in 1622, was probably adapted from Herberstain’s. 
It may be added that an ancient gold goblet depicts the 
hunting and taming of the wild aurochs.* 
As a wild animal, then, the aurochs appears to have 
ceased to exist in the early part of the seventeenth century ; 
but as a species it is still among us, for there can be no 
doubt the majority of the domesticated breeds of European 
cattle are its descendants, all diminished in point of size, 
and some departing more widely from the original type 
than others. Aurochs’ calves were in all probability cap- 
tured by the prehistoric inhabitants of Britain and the 
Continent and tamed; and from these, with perhaps an 
occasional blending of wild blood, are doubtless descended 
most of our European cattle. 
Much misconception has, however, prevailed as to which 
breeds are the nearest to the ancestral wild stock. For 
* See Keller, Globus, vol. Ixxii., No. 22 (1897). 
