200 27th keport, bureau of animal industry. 
the artist must have represented European cattle, and as Europe 
possessed only two, the bison and the ur, this surely is not the bison 
and so must have been a representation of the ur. 
Krause (1898) is of the opinion that the cups were of Babylonian 
and not Greek workmanship, because the wild steer is represented in 
a land of date palms. This opinion is refuted by Keller (1898). 
A skull, preserved in the castle of Bromberg, Prussia, shows three 
spear wounds on the forehead. This is surely some evidence that 
the urus lived so recently in Europe that many European breeds of 
cattle may be his immediate descendants, although Pallas (1769), 
Bojanus (1827), and Jarocki (1830) maintained that no one in his- 
torical times had seen a living specimen. This is contrary, however, 
to the opinion of Gesner, Buffon, Cuvier, and many other zoologists 
who have studied the problem. 
Perhaps the best affirmative evidence that both the urus and the 
European bison lived Avithin historical times is furnished by Baron 
Herberstain, who lived during the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. According to his own statements he saw both of these animals 
when he tarried at the court of King Sigismund August of Poland 
during a journey to Moscow. 
The follow^ing is a free translation from the German of Nehring 
(1896) : 
Of the wild animals in lands belonging to Lithuania, besides those native to 
German soil, is one which they call " suber." It is called '* bison " in Latin, 
while Germans call it *' aurochs." Closely related to it is another animal, 
" tur," or Latin " urus." We Germans call it " bisont " incorrectly, for its form 
is that of a wild ox. Its color is nearly black, with a grayish stripe along 
the back. 
The suber is considerably different from the wild ox ; the head is short and 
the forehead broad. The horns are far apart, but with the points turned to- 
ward each other and are effective as a means of defense. Horns have been 
found so large that 3 large men could sit between them. They are much 
thicker and shorter than the horns of the urus. The suber is much higher 
at the withers than at the rump. The hair is coarse and hard, and not so black 
as that of the urus. Along the throat and neck the hair is much longer than on 
other parts of the body. 
Under one of Herberstain's pictures is the following statement: 
" I am the urus which the Polonaise call tur, the Germans aurox, 
and the vulgar bison." Under another, "I am the bison that the 
Polonaise call suber, the Germans wysent, and the vulgar urochs." 
It is this Babel of tongues which has helped to obscure the point at 
issue. Some of the older German naturalists, including Brehm, have 
called the European wild ox " aurochs " and the bison " urus." 
French, Italian, Swiss, Belgian, and English naturalists have called 
the bison " aurochs " and the wild ox " urus." 
The first edition of Herberstain's travels was published in 1549 
under the title of " Kerum Moscovitcarum Commentarii," and con- 
