24 The Ottawa Naturalist. [March 



PAL^ONTOLOGV. 



Crania of extinct Bisons from the Klondike creek gravels. 



During the last five years, four skulls, or portions of skulls, 

 of extinct bisons from the auriferous gravels of the Klondike dis- 

 trict, have been received ai the Museum of the Geological Survey. 

 It will be convenient to distinguish these specimens as Nos. i, 2, 

 3 and 4. 



Nos. I and 2 are skulls that are larger and much longer 

 horned than those of the woodland or prairie race of the recent 

 American Bison. Both of them are apparently referable to tha 

 form which Mr. Rhoads describes and figures as the "Great 

 Alaskan Bison," Bison Alaskensis, Rhoads, in the Proceedings of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences ot Philadelphia for 1897. But, 

 in a paper on " The Fossil Bison of North America," published in 

 1899, in volume xxi of the Proceedings of the U. S. National 

 Museum, Mr. F". A. Lucas places B. Alaskensis among the 

 synonyms of ^. crassicornts, Richardson. 



No. I, like the type of B. Alaskensis, is a '' large cranium of 

 a long horned bison " ..." in which the frontal and occipital por- 

 tions, with their horn cores, are intact." The margins of the 

 orbits and the " basal suture of the nasals are also preserved. " 

 This specimen was collected by Mr. R. G. McConnell in 1900, 

 fifteen feet below the surface, at Gold Run Creek, Claim 17. 



No. 2 is a still finer skull than No. i, with the whole of both 

 horns remarkably well preserved, and the nasals, as well as the 

 frontal and occipital portions. It was collected by Mr. W. G. 

 Luker in 1902, thirty feet below the surface, at Dominion Creek. 

 Claim No. 83, below Lower Discovery. 



No. 3 is the basal portion of a skull, with most of the right 

 horn core and half of the left preserved, collected by Mr. Luker in 

 1902, forty-five feet below the surface, at Bear Creek. This skull 

 is much smaller than that of either race of the now nearly extinct 

 American Bison, and has comparatively short and not very much 

 curved horn cores. Still, it seems to correspond better with 

 Lucas' recent descriptions and figures of the young or " spike- 



