New-York tribune., 1900-05-13
AUROCHS AND BISON.
STRANGE EUROPEAN CATTLE. NOW WRIT,
UALLY EXTINCT
From The London Standard.

the aurOchs or urus. discovered in a Pomera-
/ man peat bog, has again attracted attention TO
/ form Of big game which since history be-
gan, mas disappeared before the hunter. Popular
report often cOnfuses two species of wild cattle
! the one called IN science I3Os pTiuigenus. and
me me 9tile' me european bison Their remains
are found under similar circumstances in cav
ems ems ana various superficial deposits, the bison
,tlSo occurring IN the forest bed of Norfolk
ana having, therefore, reached his part Of Flu-
rope before the so-ca!led glacial epoch began.
but WAlIe the aurochs IS extinct the bison
yves, leading a protected existence in certain
forests OF LIthuania, but being really wild in the
/ Caucasus. once. however. il :uamrd over EZ11-
rope, and in Asia extended as far Is Siberia
while IT'S bones have been found n the frozen
soil OF EschOltz Bay, in Alaska.
These animals We're not Uncommon in Central
EUROPE IN the sixteenth century. and about that
time Were regarded as royal game in Poland,
not less Jhan sixty being killed in great
@l-il @ $" tt1e rs Loo. Even then. however, they
. appear TO have been restricted 10 Iathuaaia-
Where as We have SAID. they stiu survive
Il'uTH III greatly diminished numbers. Bison
Boa&sSus OF Europeus bears q general rasarn-
Diahee ~. but is specifically different from, MS
American cousin, named after that continent,
winch also has almost disappeared from the
earth during the last fifty or Sixty years. The
. American beast wandered over rila rrairies
While the European species is a lover of the
. forest. But the durOchs, or urus was A very
different creature. and must nave been not
/ very unlike one of the lOnE-hOrued oxen which
may be seen to-day in the iowlauds 0f Italy
Ii was a large and formidable beast. its horns
had slight double curvature and attained TO a
sIsdL IThsth Tor skulls have been found in
which the bony cores measure forty-two inches
n
me pages OF The Royal Natural History"
you'd mean that the points of the shea tbs the
norns proper, must have been IA her over four
Itet apart ana Il greater length than this was
sometimes attained. They appear to have been
occasionally used drinking cups and such
a norm Of ale would not be quickly drained
The aurochs is related to certain Asiatic
forms of oxen, and makes its aupea rance in
Europe. if not at the same epoch only a TttIe
later than the bison. but was not less widely
spread. for II wandered as far north as Scan
dnavia and Russia, and southwark to Italy
Greece and even Algeria. 1t has been found in
Palestine, where some writer's have identified
It with the reem or unicorn of the Authorized
version; but how far eastward it extended has
NOT YET oeen aScertalned Its remains. espe-
clally in caves. associated with the Wild
horse, the brown and the grizzly bears the Iion
tHe spotted hyena, TWO species both Of rtlinocerOs
ana OF elephant. and a number of other ami
mas. some StlH living in Europe. Such as were
good for food man hunted; such as We're eat
erS OF flesh, perhaps, sometimes hunted him
A savage armed with nothing better than
rudely clipped spearheads must have often
Jared badly when the lion was roaring after
his prey and at first the struggle for existence
between man and the wild beasts must have
neen pFotracted and severe. But that he could
Slay the aurochs We learn from remains found
at Laugerie Basse. These cave men Of Central
France though they were so far advanced
IN mechanical arts as to smooth their weapons
OF stone could carve bones antiers into
SHAPES SHAPES OF ahIIhaIs, or lncise on them outline
sketches, rude but fairly accurate. one such
SHOWS an durochs quietly feeding, while q
hunter, who has crept UP behind him, is just
throwing his spear. The form OF the horns
Identifies the animal. but that the bison was
also known is proved by an equally charac-
teristlC sketch of heads on j second cary
ing. on the other side of it a hunter is at
tackIng Wild horse.
Some Of the big game which these early races
OF men hunted apparently vanished from Europe
almost simultaneously with them, for what was
their fate and where on earth they are now rep
resented unless by the Esquimaus, we cannot
tell The next race, at any rate. the neolithic
folk. as they are now called, whose weapons ard
tools, made after elaborate patterns are
often polished. seem 70 have come as COnQuerurS.
Perhaps the newcomers fOresaw that the abo-
rtgines might give rise TO incOnvenient racial
questions, so, as Tacitus says they made a
solitude, and called il peace" But with the
Older race several of the larger wild animals dis
appeared. at any rate from the British Isles If
not from Northwestern EUrope-the mammoth
and the woOlly rnnOCeros, the hippopotamus
the sabre toothed tiger which had already be-
come extremely if extinct; perhaps
also, the lion and hyena-
They may have disappeared from our islands
because a general sinking of the land replaced
many broad grassy tree clad plains with
shallow seas. and completed the severance Of
Britain from the Continent This change and
the incoming Of a better armed and more cum
ming race OF hunters may have turned the scale
distinctly in mans favor. Still some big game
remained. for the Britain OF that age was very
different from that which inhabit. No towns,
only scattered villages; large districts OF forest
and marsh land such were the backwoOds OF
Canada and still are some parts Of Central
Africa Here wild animals found ample pro-
lection, and had no more to dread from m2I|
than from the wolf or the lynx. So the reiLN
deer remained, at any rate in the north; per
haps. also. the sO-called Irish elk together With
the bison and the aurochs- Some thirty wears