72 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



the outer surface of all these bones, with the exception of the 

 larger cranium, one would be led to suppose that they had 

 reposed for a lengthened series of years either in close contact 

 with a peaty soil, or in water deeply impregnated with organic 

 matter. 



The two crania present all the characters which belong to 

 that great fossil ox which has been described by Bojanus and 

 Owen by the name of Bos primigenius. These are especially 

 the great length and peculiar curvature of the horn-cores, their 

 origin, from the extremities of the ridge which separates the 

 frontal from the occipital portions of the cranium, and the 

 slightly concave forehead with which the plane of the occiput 

 forms an acute angle ; characters which were first specifically 

 laid down by Cuvier,* and which enable the anatomist to 

 distinguish the cranium of the Bos from that of the Aurochs, 

 with which, at the first glance, it might be confounded. Both 

 the crania have evidently belonged to fully formed animals, 

 probably, indeed, advanced in years ; for the sutures are almost 

 without exception obliterated by ossification, and the two last 

 posterior molars which remain on the left side of the upper 

 maxilla of the best preserved skull are very much worn. 

 These are the only teeth which have been preserved ; portions 

 of the fangs of one of the other molars are still present, how- 

 ever, in their sockets. In this skull, all the bones of the 

 cranium, as well as those of the face, with the exception of the 

 lower jaw, are in an almost perfect condition. The other 

 cranium is not in so good a state, for all the facial bones have 

 been broken away, and the base of the skull is very much 

 injured ; the ends of the horn-cores have also been broken off, 

 so that their original length cannot be ascertained. In both 

 crania the horn-cores are tuberculated at the base, and marked 

 with long grooves on the surface. These characters are also 

 seen in the single detached horn-core. Both crania exhibit 

 corresponding dimensions in their several parts, so far as they 

 are present in the two specimens, so that one must suppose 

 that the animals to which they belonged were of equal size in 

 most particulars. I subjoin some of the principal measure- 

 ments, contrasting them at the same time with those of " the 



* Menagerie du Museum d'Hist. Nat. Art. du Zebu ; Ossimens Fossiles, t. iv. 

 p. 109. 



