EXTINCT BISONS OF NORTH AMERICA— HAY. 



193 



subsequent freshet the skull was exposed; and shortly afterwards it 

 was secured by Messrs. Lee and Henderson. This specimen was 

 buried at a depth of 35 feet from the surface of the ground, but no 

 account is given regarding the character of the deposit containing it. 



The catalogue number of the specimen is 14346. The lower jaws 

 were not secured. The nasal bones are missing, as well as the palatal 

 processes of the premaxillse. The base of the skull is damaged some- 

 what. The three molars of the right side are present and give 

 important evidence regarding the relationships of the animal. The 

 writer was at first strongly inclined to regard this skull as having 

 belonged to the female of Bison latifrons; especially tlu-ough the 

 examination of the figures of skulls of the existing North American 

 bison which are shown in J. A. Allen's work.^ It is there seen that 

 the females of this species have, often at least, horn-cores slenderer 

 and more strongly curved than those of the males. If the horn-cores 

 of the two sexes of B. latifrons varied in the same way, the fine pair 

 in Cincinnati might be regarded as those of a bull; while the skull 

 here described might be looked on as that of a cow. However, 

 certain characters found in the teeth have convinced the writer that 

 it is much more probable that the Hoxie specimen represents a dis- 

 tinct species. 



Our knowledge regarding the great thickness and wide expanse of 

 the horn-cores of B. latifrons rests principally on the fine pair, con- 

 nected by the intervening part of the skull, which were found many 

 years ago in Adams County, Ohio, and which are now in the collection 

 of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History. These have been 

 described and figured in various publications, especially by Lucas 

 and Allen. The figures of the latter ^ are here reproduced (pi. 19) 

 on a considerably smaller scale and joined so as to show their rela- 

 tive positions. Measurements have been presented by the writers 

 just named, but these measurements differ somewhat in the two 

 tables, and they differ from those taken by the writer on the cast of 

 the cores in the United States National Museum. The three sets of 

 measurements are here given: 



Measurements of horn-cores of Bison latifrons. 



• The American Bisons, Living and Extinct, pis. 5-7. 

 2 Idem, p. 7, pi. 1. 



95278°— Proc.N.M.vol.46— 13 13 



