72 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
the outer surface of all these bones, with the exception of tlie 
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 jirimigenius. 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'liist. Nat. Art. du Zebu ; Ossimens Fossiles, t iv. 
p. 109. 
