AHRENS — THE EUROPEAN BISON 
61 
of Bialowies and consequently the Wisent herd of 170-180 head is 
seriously reduced. The imminent retreat of the German troops 
increases considerably the danger of extermination of the animals and 
thus extinction of the species is to be feared.^^ In fact it seems that all 
or nearly all the remaining wisents have been shot by the inhabitants 
and the retiring German soldiers, among whom disciphne had been 
undermined by the revolution. Notwithstanding, Professor Matschie 
of Berhn, who is well acquainted with the territory, told me that in his 
opinion it is very possible that wisents may still exist in impenetrable 
thickets of the forest. Unfortunately, there has been no corroboration 
of this view. 
About the end of the seventeenth century the first news of wisents 
in the Caucasus reached Europe. Since then little was known of the 
species till Professor Filatow made three trips to the district between 
1909 and 1911 for the express purpose of studying the animals. The 
Caucasian wisent varies but slightly from the type in Bieloviesh; the 
shape of the skull and the horns, which resemble those of the American 
bison, being the chief peculiarities. It is known as Bos (Bison) bonasus 
caucasius Greve. At one time the Caucasian wisent lived in the district 
of Mount Elbrus, but its territory has been reduced to a comparatively 
small area in the Kuban region in northwestern Caucasia. Cutting 
down of the forests was the chief cause for the diminution. The last 
known area, where Caucasian wisents hved is as follows: Its northern 
limit is south of the towns of Atschcha and Atscheschbok, then along 
the bend of the Umschten and Schischa Rivers to the mouth of the 
Besymjanka, and somewhat south at the mouth of the Maltschepa. 
The whole area is 50 versts between east and west and 20 versts 
between north and south. According to Filatow, the number of ani- 
mals was ^‘scarcely less than 100, but under no conditions as many as 
1000.’’ Since the revolution the Kuban cossacks have demanded the 
return to them of these hunting grounds, which had been leased by 
them to the Grand Duke Sergius Michaelowitsch who endeavored to 
protect the wisents there, and thus an extermination of the species is 
also to be feared. Professor Matschie thinks that the remaining Cau- 
casian wisents have abandoned their old range and emigrated to other 
regions, at present unknown. 
The herd of Pless above mentioned was founded in 1864 or 1865, 
when a bull and three or four cows were presented to Prince Pless by 
Czar Alexander II. and the former placed them in his extensive estates 
in southwestern Upper Silesia. The animals increased there consid- 
