EXISTING KINDS OF WILD CATTLE 209 
by the bison or wisent {B. bonasus), the zubr of the 
Russians ; and when the former animal became 
extinct, its name was transferred to the latter. 
Whether aurochs and bison actually inhabited the 
same ground may be doubtful ; but, although the 
latter does not seem to have extended into northern 
Africa, certain it is that both were found over the 
greater part of Europe. Unfortunately, there is some 
difficulty in ascertaining the precise limits of the 
range of the bison, owing to the fact that it was 
preceded by a closely allied extinct species {B. 
priscus), which has itself been split up into several 
local forms.^ The wonderful rock-paintings on the 
walls of the cavern of Altamira, in Spain, prove that 
bison formerly inhabited that country ; and there is 
likewise evidence that they once existed in Greece.^ 
The remains of the fossil bison are found in the 
British Islands, but there does not appear to be 
evidence of the occurrence in that area of the modern 
bison. The range of the latter is, however, known to 
have extended from western and southern Europe 
through the intermediate countries to Poland, Russia, 
and the Caucasus, while there is evidence that it 
likewise stretched so far north as the valley of the 
Lena, in Siberia.^ 
In the chapter on the aurochs and its extermination 
incidental references have been made to the occurrence 
of the bison in the Hercynian forest in the time of 
Julius Caesar, and its survival in Germany during 
the Middle Ages. Reference was also made to its 
^ Hilzheimer, " Beitrag zur Kenntnis der fossilen Bisonten," Siizbevt 
Ges. natttrfor Freunde, Berlin, 1910, p. 136. 
^ Dlirst, Die Kinder, etc., p. 8. 
^ Hilzheimer, op. cit. p. 145. 
