8 
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 
Asia to Europe, it became extinct in America as well as in 
Greenland. 
Part of one section of the old musk ox stock returned to 
North America by way of Asia, while another travelled by 
means of a north Atlantic land connection to southern Green¬ 
land, gradually finding its way along the eastern and western 
coasts to northern Greenland. Meanwhile the musk ox had 
entered Alaska again from Asia and crossed the Mackenzie 
River into arctic Canada, where some of the peculiar forms 
originated. 
Dr. Kowarzik promises us further contributions to this 
interesting problem from a palaeontological point of view. 
These wall be of particular value in elucidating the question 
of the relationship between the European and the Greenland 
forms of the musk ox. I agree in so far with Dr. Kowarzik, 
as I feel convinced that the musk ox originated in North 
America in pre-Glacial times, but I differ in most of his other 
views. If land connections existed between North America 
and Asia, and between North America and Europe, they must 
have persisted through Pliocene to early Pleistocene times. 
I am of opinion, therefore, that the musk ox spread east¬ 
ward to Europe and westward to Asia as long as land 
bridges enabled it to do so. It is quite possible that the 
Asiatic section subsequently travelled westward to Europe, 
but neither of them succeeded in returning to their native 
land. The musk oxen we find in Greenland and arctic 
America probably survived the Ice Age where they now 
live. This opinion has the support of Dr. F. Wright* and 
Professor Upham as the result of their special study of the 
geological history of Greenland. 
Not long ago the musk ox was still found in Alaska. Now 
it has been quite exterminated west of the Mackenzie River. 
As Dr. Allen remarks, the genus Ovibos is a declining type, 
which has attained its last stronghold in the arctic barren 
grounds. Wherever it is within the grasp of man it will 
soon be a creature of the past. 
We possess no undoubted evidence of the existing species 
of musk ox having ever penetrated as far south as the United 
States, nevertheless it is quite possible that the fragmentary 
* Wright, F. F., and Warren Upham, “ Greenland Icefields,” p. 332. 
