I 



496 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1897. 



This is all he has to say regarding the main subject of the foregoing 

 discussion. It is quite sufficient, however, to show that he recog- 

 nized a difference and attributed it to well known laws upon which 

 the systeinatist bases his limitations of subspecies. His remarks re- 

 garding the country and the buffaloes of the region extending from 

 the Liard River and Great Slave Lake to the Peace River, on the 

 east side of the Rocky Mountains, are of great interest. " Scattered 

 over this huge extent of country," he continues, " are still a few 

 bands of buffalo. Sometimes they are heard of at Forts Smith and 

 Vermilion, sometimes at Fort St. John close up to the big mount- 

 ains on Peace River, and occasionally at Fort Nelson on the south 

 branch of the Liard. It is impossible to say anything about their 

 numbers as the country they inhabit is so large, and the Indians, 

 who are few in number, usually keep to the same hunting ground." 

 Describing the scene of his final hunt, he says : " Prairie and timber 

 were about in equal proportion. * * * About noon we found 

 the track that we had been looking for, easily distinguishable from 

 the many tracks of moose and woodland caribou that we had crossed. 

 Little Francois made a capital approach, and after a couple of hours 

 walk we sighted a band of eight buffalo feeding in a small wood- 

 surrounded swamp." 



In the Smithsonian Reports for 1896, pages 407 to 412, Mr. W. 

 T. Hornaday devotes considerable attention to the " Wood or 

 Mountain Buffalo." It is disappointing to find that in all his re- 

 searches concerning the buffalo our author brings us no nearer a 

 solution of the question, for he never saw a specimen of this sup- 

 posed variety. In the absence of direct evidence and with an evi- 

 dent misconception of the reputed size of the woodland form, he 

 proposes a theory to occount for the relatively "smaller" propor- 

 tions of that race ! He concludes that " at present there is not the 

 slightest ground for considering that the ' Mountain Buffalo ' or the 

 ' Wood Buffalo ' is entitled to rank even as a variety of Bison amer- 

 icanus." 



One of the latest and most reliable published references to the 

 wood buffalo appeared in "Forest and Stream," Oct. 23, 1897, page 

 323. It is from the report of Inspector Jarvis, sent to the far north 

 by the Canadian Government with instructions regarding game, etc., 

 and reads: " I have taken great pains in making thorough inquir- 

 ies as possible in connection with the buffalo, their habits, number, 

 and range. The range of a scattered band of about three hundred 



