EQUITS.
The fossil remains of some species of this genus have been discovered in alluvia, as at Cronstadt, in \Virtem berg, where they are found in great numbers,•in the same places where those of the elephant, rhinoceros, and others, exist. In this country they have occurred in the same places with those of the elk. It has been merely conjec tured by Cuvier, that they may belong to the common horse, as the specimens hitherto found have not been suf ficiently perfect to allow of a decided judgment on this subject ; and he considers it as an interesting fact, respect ing the antiquity of this animal, that these remains are associated with those of elephants. Bones of the horse have also been found in the calcareous breccia of Dal matia. In Arragon, those of the ass occur under similar circumstances, according to Bowles and Cuvier.
BUS.
It appears from the investigations of this last named naturalist, that four species of this genus have been found in the fossil state, namely, the aurochs, or mats, the origi nal wild species of the common ox, a buffalo, and one re sembling the musk ox of America.
The skulls and horns of the first species are frequently found in various parts of Europe, and among other places, in our own country. It is considered as a distinct species from the common ox, being much larger. It occurs also in America, at the Salt-lick of the Ohio, and elsewhere.
If the second species is really the parent or origin of our own domestic animal, it exhibits some differences. It is of a much larger size, and the direction of the horns is different; but this latter circumstance is,. we know, ex tremely variable, and may be altered by breeding, even to the extinction of this organ. This is a very common fossil, and, as it often occurs in peat, it is probably modern, and really the same species as the present ox. In Ireland it has frequently been found, as well as in Scotland. Bones of the common ox also occur in Arragon, in the fissures of limestone rocks, in situations similar to the bones of Gibraltar. In Italy they are found near Vicenza and Verona, in the strata which we have elsewhere men tioned.
In Siberia, there is found the of a buffalo of a very large size. Cuvier has compared it with all the buffaloes known at present as existing, particularly with the large species of India, which it was thought to resemble. But he finds sufficient differences to justify him in considering it as a distinct species; and, since it is found in the same alluvial soils as the elephant and rhinoceros of Siberia, he considers it also. as having lived at the same remote period. The fourth species has been compared with the musk ox of America, very recent specimens of which have been brought home by captain Parry. It is by no
means, however, ascertained that it is the same species, and as yet it has only been found in Siberia. Thus, if these conclusions are correct, there are three lost species in this genus, and an existing one.
But as naturalists do not seem quite agreed among themselves respecting the fossil animals of this genus, a few additional remarks will not be misplaced. The prin cipal differences of opinion lie between Faujas and Cuvier.
The latter remarks, that, in the common ox, the fore head is flat or concave, whereas in the urus it is slightly convex. In the former, also, the forehead is square, or nearly as long as it is•wide, considering its breadth as lying between the orbits, whereas in the latter the breadth is to the length as three to two. In the ox the horns are at tached to the extremities of the projecting line at the top of the head, separating the occiput from the forehead; whereas in the urns that line is behind the origin of the horns. The plane of the occiput is also quadrangular in the ox, and semicircular in the urus.
Farther, there arc fourteen pairs of ribs in the urns, and only thirteen in the ox; as is the case with most other ruminant animals, while the legs also are longer and thin ner. The bison, and the urus of the north of Europe, it must also be observed, are the same animal ; but it is un certain whether these are the same as the American buffalo.
It is Mr. Parkinson's opinion, that Cuvier has not prov ed the first species of fossil horns to be those of the Urus, though the great superiority of size to those of the com mon ox may render that probable. Though it is admitted that a long life will produce a long horn, it appears from the sutures in some of the disputed species, that it was a young animal, and that all the bones, as well as the skull, prove that it was of uncommon magnitude.
With respect to the horns and skulls admitted to belong to the wild original of the common ox, they have occur red of great size. In a specimen found near Arezzo, the forehead was a foot wide, and the horns two feet seven inches long, being fourteen inches in circumference at the base. In another, found near Rome, the breadth of the forehead was fourteen inches, and the circumference of the core of the horn eighteen. In a specimen found in Dumfries-shire, now in Mr. Parkinsons's possession, the length of the bony core is two feet six inches, the cir cumference at the base seventeen inches, the distance be tween the points of the horns two feet eleven inches, and the breadth of the forehead above a foot.