Instead of the Elephant and Rhinoceros we find in the later or second stone period, in that namely of the Kjökkenmödding and "Pfahlbauten," the Urus and Bison, the Elk and the Red deer already installed as monarchs of the forests. The latter indeed, with the Boar, appears to have been very frequent, and to have formed a most important article of food to the Lake-dwellers. The Urus, or great fossil Ox is now altogther extinct. It was mentioned by Cæsar, who describes it as being little smaller than an elephant. (Hi sunt magnitudine paulo infra elephantos, specie et colore et figura tauri.) According to Herberstein, it still existed in Switzerland during the sixteenth century, soon after which, however, it must have become extinct.
The Aurochs, or European Bison seems to have disappeared from Western Europe even earlier than the Urus. There is no historical record of its existence in England or Scandinavia. In Switzerland we cannot trace it later than the tenth century, but it is mentioned in the "Niebelungen Lied," of the twelfth century, as occurring in the Forest of Worms, and in Prussia the last was killed in the year 1776. At one period indeed, it appears to have inhabited almost the whole of Europe, much of Asia, and part even of America, but at present it is confined in Europe, to the imperial forests in Lithuania, where it is preserved by the Emperor of Russia, while, according to Nordmann and Von Baer, it still exists in some parts of Weston Asia.
We have no notice of the existence of the Elk in Switzerland during the historical period, but it is mentioned by Cæsar as existing in the great Hercynian forest; and even in the twelfth century it was to be met with in Sclavonia and Hungary, according to Albertus Magnus and Gesner. In Saxony, the death of the last is recorded as having occurred in 1746. At present it inhabits Prussia and Lithuania, Finland and Russia, Scandinavia and Siberia, to the shores of the Amoor.
The Ibex disappeared from most of the Swiss Alps, perhaps not much later than the Elk. It lingered longest in the West. In Glarus the last one perished in 1550, though near Chiavenna it existed until the commencement of the 17th century, and in the Tyrol until the second half of the 18th, while it still maintains itself in the mountains surrounding Mont Iséran.
The extermination of the Bear, like that of the Ibex, seems to have begun in the East, and not yet to be complete, since this animal still occurs in the Jura, in Wallis, and in the South-Eastem parts of Switzerland.
The Fox, ihe Otter, and the different species of Weasels, are still the common carnivora of Switzerland, and the Wild Cat, the Badger, and the Wolf still occur in the Jura and the Alps, the latter in cold winters venturing even into the plains.
The Beaver on the contrary has at last disappeared. It has long been very rare in Switzerland, but a few survived until the beginning of the present century, in Lucerne and Wallis. Red deer
