494 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1897. 



form: " The bison which frequent the woody parts of the country 

 form smaller herds than those which roam over the plains, but are 

 said to be individually of greater size." This is the first published 

 intimation known to the writer of a distinction between the two 

 forms. In Hind's " Narrative of the Canadian Exploring Expedi- 

 tions," published in 1860, the relations of the wood and plains buf- 

 faloes are quite fully considered but no conclusions arrived at, as the 

 author got nearly all his information from hearsay. He says : 

 " Many old hunters with whom I have conversed on this subject, 

 aver that the so-called Wood Buffalo is a distinct species, and al- 

 though they are not able to offer scientific proofs, yet the difference 

 in size, color, hair and horns are enumerated as the evidence upon 

 which they base their statement. * * * The skin of the so-called 

 Wood Buffalo is much larger than that of the common animal, the 

 hair is very short, mane or hair about the neck, short and soft, and 

 altogether destitute of curl, which is the common feature in the hair 

 or wool of the prairie animal. Two skins of the so-called Wood 

 Buffalo, which I saw at Selkirk Settlement, bore a very close resem- 

 blance to the skin of the Lithuanian Bison, judging from the speci- 

 mens of that species which I have since had an opportunity of see- 

 ing in the British Museum. The Wood Buffalo is stated to be very 

 scarce, and only found north of the Saskatchewan and on the flanks 

 of the Rocky Mountains. It never ventures into the open plains." 

 Dr. J. A. Allen, whose painstaking monograph of the American 

 bisons, 10 justly entitles him to speak authoritatively on the subject, 

 was unable to recognize the " Wood " or " Mountain " Buffalo as an 

 authentic variety or subspecies of B. bison, although his researches 

 brought the subject up to the year 1876. 



A short summary of his conclusions may be made as follows : a. 

 The Wood Buffalo as defined by Hind (1. c.) and the Mountain 

 Buffalo of the United States, referred to by hunters and travellers 

 in the Rocky Mountains, are probably identical in their so-called 

 diffeiences from the plains animal in larger size and darker, shorter 

 and softer pelage, b. The most trustworthy accounts of the Wood 

 and Mountain Buffaloes are so contradictory that it is almost impos- 

 sible to believe in its existence, c. There is ample scientific proof, 

 however, that the bisons formerly living in the high wooded por- 

 tions of the central Rocky Mountains averaged larger than those of 

 the plains, d. The difference in environment surrounding the 



i0 Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., IV, 1876, pp. 39 to 41. 



