202 MAMMALIA. 



large horns, directed outwards and downwards, ascending from 

 the point, flattened, and so wide at their base that they nearly 

 cover the forehead, merely leaving between them a triangular 

 space, the point of which is above. It is a very large animal, 

 of an excessively ferocious disposition, inhabiting the woods of 

 Caffraria. 



B. moschatus, Gm.; Schr. CCCII; La Tete, Buff. Supp. VI, 

 iii. (The Musk Ox of America.) The horns approximated and 

 similarly directed, but meeting on the forehead in a straight 

 line; those of the female are smaller and more widely separated; 

 the forehead is convex, and the end of the muzzle furnished with 

 hairs. It stands low, and is covered with tufted hair that 

 reaches to the ground. The tail is extremely short. It diffuses 

 more strongly than any other species the musky odour common 

 to all the genus. It is only to be met with in the coldest parts 

 of North America, though it seems that its cranium and bones 

 have been carried by the ice to Siberia. The Esquimaux make 

 caps of the tail, the hairs of which, falling over their face, 

 defend them from the Musquitoes. 



7 



ORDER IX. 

 CETACEA. 



The Cetacea are mammiferous animals without hind feet 

 their trunk is continued by a thick tail, terminating in an hori- 

 zontal, cartilaginous fin, and their head is united to the trunk 

 by a neck, so thick and short, that no diminution of its diame- 

 ter can be perceived, and composed of very slender cervical 

 vertebrsB, which are partly anchylosed or soldered together. 

 The first bones of the anterior extremities are shortened, and 

 the succeeding ones flattened and enveloped in a tendinous 

 membrane, which reduces them to true fins. Their external 

 form is altogether that of fishes, the tail fin excepted, which 

 in the latter is vertical. They always therefore remain in 

 the water; but as they respire by lungs, they are compelled 

 to return frequently to its surface to take in fresh supplies of 

 air. Independently of this, their warm blood, their ears, 



