Aristotle, speaking of oxen, only mentions the common ox, except saying, that among the Arachotas in India, there are wild oxen, which differ from the domestic ones as much as wild boars differ from hogs; but in another part, he gives the description of a wild ox of Pæonia, a province adjoining to Macedonia, which he calls _bonasus_. Thus the common ox and the bonasus, are the only animals of this kind taken notice of by Aristotle; and what must appear singular, the bonasus, although fully described by this great philosopher, has not been recognised by any of the Greek or Latin naturalists who have written after him, all of whom have literally copied him on this subject; so that to this day, there is no more than the name of bonasus known, without the knowledge of the animal which it ought to be applied to. If we consider, that Aristotle, in speaking of the wild oxen of temperate climates, has only mentioned the bonasus; and that, on the contrary, the Greek and Latin authors of succeeding ages, have not spoken of the bonasus, but describe these wild oxen by the names of _urus_ and _bison_, we shall be led to believe, that the bonasus must be either the one or the other of these animals; indeed by comparing what Aristotle has said of the bonasus, with what we know of the bison, it is more than probable, that these two names indicate the same animal. Julius Cæsar is the first who mentions the urus. Pliny and Pausanias are also the first who speak of the bison. Since Pliny's time, the name of _bubalus_ has been given indiscriminately to the urus, or the bison, and this confusion has increased with time. To the bonasus, bubalus, urus, and bison, have been added, the _catopleba_, the _thur_, the _bubalus_ of Belon, the bisons of Scotland and America, and all our naturalists have made as many different species as they have found names. The truth is here so obscured by clouds, and so surrounded with errors, that it will be difficult to clear up this part of Natural History, which the contradiction of reports, the variety of descriptions, the multiplicity of names, the diversity of places, the difference of languages, and the obscurity of the times, seems to have condemned to perpetual darkness. I shall, therefore, give my opinion upon this subject, and afterwards present the proofs upon which it is founded. 1. The animal at present called _buffalo_, (_fig. 137._) was not known to the ancients. 2. The buffalo, at present domestic in Europe, is the same as the tame or wild buffalo of India and Africa. 3. The _bubalus_ of the Greeks and Romans is neither the buffalo nor the small ox of Belon, but the animal that the gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences have described in treating of the _Barbary cow_, and which we call the _bubalus_. _Engraved for Barr's Buffon_ [Illustration: FIG. 137. _Buffalo._] [Illustration: FIG. 138. _Bison._]