O. Gy. Dely szerk.: Vertebrata Hungarica 22. (Budapest, 1984)

Topál, Gy. ; Vörös, I.: Notes on history and recent records of elk (Alces alces L.) in Hungary 83-94. o.

the south-west (KRETZOI, 1977). The southernmost occurrence of Alces in Europe is known from a Palaeolithic site in Crvena Stijena, Yugoslava (MALÉZ 1972). Holocene history During the Mesolithic period the species was known from comparatively few localities. These are: 12 localities in Denmark, 5 in Sweden, 3 in Switzerland, 2 in Germany, 1 each in Czechoslovakia and Roumania, respectively (JARMAN 1972), and 2 localities in the north-western part of the Soviet Union, the Baltic States (P

AAVER 1965). In the European Neolithic-Eneolithic period (4000-2500 B.C.) the elk was known in 24 localities In the Swiss Plateau (CHAIX & DESSE 1981), 22 in eastern Baltic States of the Soviet Union (PAAVER 1965), 16 in the southwestern European part of the Soviet Union, that is the middle and upper parts of the Bug, Dniester and Dnieper valleys (TRINGHAM 1969, PIDOPLICKO 1956). The Roumanian remains of subfossil Alces came from the Andriesen site at the upper flows of River Prut (Cucuten Phase A) (NECRASOV & al. 1963). In Hungary, the only known bone remain of subfossil Alces is from the TIszaluc site in the upper valley of Tisza river (Middle Copper Age, Hunyadihalom group, cca 3000 B.C.). It was in the Bronze Age that Alces was the least widespread all over Europe. Still, from the Middle Bronze Age BADER (1978) mentions It from Mediesu Aurlt-Potau, Roumania, and a specimen from the same Age is known from Dersida, Roumania (T. JURCSAK In litt.). During the Iron Age and later in the Roman Age the elk reappeared in Central and Eastern Europe (CHAIX & DESSE 1981, CALKIN 1966). It is known from 21 localities In the 8th-2nd centuries B.C. in East-European part of USSR. CALKIN (op.clt.) established an interesting relationship between deer species and the geographical topography of the localities. While in the woodland area and in the Orlov-Kursk forest-steppe belt Alces constituted 19-26.5 percent of the big mammal fauna and Cervus was absent or gave just 1.5 percent, respectively, at the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Ungulec and Bug rivers the relative abundance of Alces was only 1.5 percent and it was even absent in Moldavia. Cervus was represented in 26.5 and 51 percents in these areas. There was a gradual spread of the species towards the south and south-west in the eastern Baltic States of the USSR (PAAVER 1965). In some sites of Lithuania in the 9th-14th centuries (A.D.) most of the bone remains came from Alces and Castor (CALKIN 1958). Finally, occurrence of Alces bone fragments is known from the 9th-13th centuries (A.D.) in Poland (SCHRAMM & al. 1978, SOBOCINSKI 1980, SOSNOWSKI 1981), at Kiev, Ukraine, USSR (PIDOPLICKO 1956) and even in Alcedar, Moldavia. The Hungarian zoo-historian B. SZALAY (1916) gathered In his work all the literature, historical and linguistic data from the Hungary of his era and from the historical works published during the previous centuries. He concluded that this big animal occurred in the Carpathian Basin even well after the Hungarian Conquest Period, as it was evidenced by the findings in Holocene deposits (in his view), by the Hungarian vernacular name of this animal (jávor, jávorszarvas), by the works of ALBERTUS MAGNUS, HERBERSTEIN, HE LT AI, CARDANUS and FASCHING, by the exact reports of two Chronicles, then the locality names originated from the name of elk in Galícia, with the probability of occasional migration of elk into Hungary, finally, by CANTEMIR' s report of elk In Moldavia, supposed from the same stock as In Transsylvania. In SZALAY'

s opinion the "extinction" of the elk happened mostly during the 15th century (e.g. in West Hungary), and lastly in the middle of the 17th century in Transsylvania. Data similar to those seen above were presented in SZALAY'

s other work (1930), published in German. There Is an Interesting further note on the occurrence of the elk from Transsylvania in CSEREI'

s (1983) work, evidently from the 18th century. The elk In our days The recent distribution of the European elk in the Soviet Union and Europe was discussed in details by HEPTNER & al. (1966), NOWAK (1975), BRIEDERMANN (1982) and STRANDGAARD (1982). The most interesting fact is that in the middle of the 19th century Its distribution was minimum in extension, especially in the north-eastern part of Europe. Yet till the end of the fifties of this century It greatly extended its territory. The rate of this spread has been extremely fast in the last ten years and may partly be explained by the changing forestry methods and the extermination of the populations of predators (STRANDGAARD 1982). As a result - considering here also the migrating specimens - its range of distribution reached the one in the 17th-18th centuries in Western Soviet Union, otherwise, in the Volga region almost the same extension as during historical times there. From Hungarian point of view, the recent increase of areal in Poland and that of in Western Soviet Union seems to have importance. In Poland the present stock of four thousand animals emits numer-