THE MUSK OX. 365 



description appeared, given by Thomas Pennant from a skin 

 sent to England by Samuel Hearne, and all acquaintance with 

 the creature was derived from the arctic explorers (Drage, Dobbs, 

 Ellis, Hearne, Parry, and others), who in general terms describe 

 its appearance and give meager accounts of its habits. Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, in 1829, sums up the available information, and adds a 

 few remarks of his own, which refer principally to the specimens 

 then exhibited in the British Museum. Audubon, in his valuable 

 history of the Quadrupeds of North America, published in 1854, 

 is confined almost to a literal copy of Richardson's account ; while 

 so late as 1859 Spencer F. Baird, in his ponderous volume, the 

 Mammals of North America, dismisses the subject with a refer- 

 ence of barely twenty lines. His words, however, are significant ; 

 for, while he admits that the animal furnishes a most interesting 

 study, he laments our scant knowledge of this sturdy arctic in- 

 habitant. 



The special inquiry made three or four years ago by the Gov- 

 ernment of Canada, as to the resources of the Great Mackenzie 

 Basin, furnishes data of utmost value : the enterprise of the mod- 

 ern press in ferreting out and bringing to our notice every item 

 which concerns itself with the great questions of commerce and 

 social economy, and the progress made in polar research during 

 the last thirty years, contribute many facts in connection with 

 the study of the musk ox ; and we are enabled by the gathering 

 and arranging of these to give in a more complete form the his- 

 tory of this animal. 



In systematic zoology the place accorded to the musk ox is 

 intermediate between those of the sheep (Ovis) and the ox {Bos), 

 and for its special accommodation a new genus has been created, 

 " Ovibos." Most writers notice its resemblance in many ways to 

 the buffalo or bison, and it undoubtedly has much affinity with 

 this species. A peculiar prominence is given in all early records 

 to the description of the horns of the musk ox, which, though 

 valuable to the Eskimos in the making of such commodities as 

 cups, spoons, etc., by no means seem to be of so much importance, 

 yet in every account the most minute particular of these append- 

 ages is repeated. Doubtless much of the character of the musk ox 

 depends on the horns ; still, it should be noted that the descrip- 

 tions above referred to apply only to the bull, whose horns meet 

 on the forehea.d, bend sharply down, and curve gracefully upward 

 and outward ; the cow's horns are more similar to those of the 

 bison, or even may be compared to the horns of our domestic cat- 

 tle. The skull of the bull musk ox is remarkable for the develop- 

 ment of the eye -orbits, which project sufficiently beyond the 

 plane of the frontal bones to compensate for the interruption the 

 horns would otherwise make in the range of vision. The musk 



