aurochsn.

Historically and properly, the name of an extinct species of Wild Ox ( Bos Urus Owen, B. primigenius Boj.), described by Cæsar as Urus, which formerly inhabited Europe, including the British Isles, and survived until the 17th cent. in Poland. Since this became extinct, the name has often been erroneously applied to another species, the European Bison (Bos Bison Gesner, B. bonasus Linn.), still extant in the forests of Lithuania, in which sense it is used by some English naturalists.In early modern German aurox, aurochs, was still applied to the Urus, and only since its disappearance (in 17th cent.) has been popularly misapplied to the Bison, in which sense it was unfortunately adopted by some naturalists, before the facts were known. More recent authors have sought to remedy the mistake by introducing the form Urox (Middle High German ûr-ochse) for the Urus, while retaining Aurochs for the Bison; but as Urox and Aurochs are only the earlier and later form of the same name, this is historically indefensible, and the only accurate nomenclature is to distinguish the two animals as Urus (or Urox), and Bison (improperly called Aurochs). See Schade Altdeutsches Wbch. at Wisunt; Boyd Dawkins, Fossil Brit. Oxen, in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 22 i. 393.