354 On the Musk Ox, 



the perpetual ice and snow of the Arctic Circle, shews Low a single 

 delicate turn of the Creator's hand can adapt organic structures 

 almost exactly similar, to very opposite conditions of existence. 

 When we compare the musk ox with the common ox, and reflect 

 upon the vast space that separates them, we can no longer wonder 

 that the extinct elephant could have lived in Siberia, where its 

 representatives of our day would have perished in a single season. 

 The dental formula of the musk-ox is the same as that of the 

 buffalo : incisive, g ; canine, g — g ; molar, | — | = 32, The 

 horns spring out of the top of the head, being in contact at their 

 bases, bent down the sides of the neck, then curved upwards. 

 The body is low, and compactly built. 



General colour of the hair, brown, long, matted, and rather 

 curled on the neck and between the shoulders, where it is 

 rather grizzled ; on the back and hips, long but lying smoothly ; 

 on the shoulders, sides, and thighs, it is so long as to hang down 

 below the middle of the leg. There is on the centre of the back 

 a mark of a soiled brownish-white, called by Captain Parry the 

 saddle. On the throat and chest the hair is very straight and 

 lono", and together with the long hair on the lower jaw, hangs 

 down like a beard and dewlap. The short tail is concealed by 

 the fur of the hips. There is a large quantity of fine brownish 

 ash-coloured wool or down among the hair covering the body. 

 The hair on the legs is short, dull brownish-white, unmixed with 

 wool. The hoofs are longer than those of the caribou, but so 

 similar in form that it requires the eye of a practised hunter to 

 distino-uish the impressions. In the cow, which is smaller than 

 the bull, the horns are smaller, and their bases, instead of touch- 

 ino-. are separated by a hairy space. The hair on the throat and 

 chest is also shorter. 



This is the Boeuf Musque of Jeremie ; Musk Ox of Drage, 

 Dobbs, Ellis, Pennant, Hearne, and Parry ; Bos mosckatus of 

 Gmelin, Sabine, and Richardson, (Parry's " Second Voyage ;") 

 Matech Moostoos (Ugly Bison) of the Cree Indians ; Adgiddah- 

 yawseh (Little Bison) of the Chepewyans and Copper Indians ; 

 and Oomingmak of the Esquimaux. 



The barren lands of America lying to the northward of the 

 60th parallel are the principal habitations of the musk ox. 

 Tracks were once seen by Hearne within a few miles of Fort 

 Churchill, in lat. 59*=* ; and he saw many in his first northern 

 journey, in about lat. 61°. Richardson was informed that they 



