Plistocene Bison 6i 



the typical oxen, there is no species more Hkely to have been its ancestor 

 than the present one. If this suggestion should be substantiated, there 

 would be evidence of the close relationship of the yak to the bisons. 



Distribution. — ^Northern India, Java [vide Martin, op. cit.), and probably 

 the intermediate countries, during the Pliocene period. 



3. The Plistocene Bison — Bos priscus {Extinct) 



Urt/s priscus, Bojanus, Nova Acta Acad. Cos. Lcop.-Car. vol. xiii. 

 p. 427 (1827) ; Owen, Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1843, P- 232 (1844). 



Bison prisc/fs, Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamni. p. 491 (1846) ; Dawkins, 

 Quart. Journ. Geo/. Soc. vol. xxxi. p. 246 (1875) ; Wilckens, Biol. Central- 

 blatt, vol. v. p. 117 (1885); Allen, Mem. Mus. Harvard, vol. iv. p. 5 

 (1876) ; Tscherski, Mem. Acad. St. Petershourg, vol. xl. art. i, j ^ (1892). 



Bison antiquus, Leidy, Proc. Acad. Philadelphia, vol. vi. p. 117 (181^2) ; 

 Allen, Mem. Mus. Harvard, vol. iv. p. 21 (1876) ; Wilckens, Biol. Central- 

 blatt, vol. V. p. 117 (1885) ; Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Philadelphia, 1895, p. 247, 

 1897, p. 501 ; Stewart, Kansas Quarterly, vol. vi. p. 127 (1897). 



Bison crassicornis, Richardson, Zool. J'^oy. Herald, pp. 40 and 1:^9 (1859). 



Bison bonasus priscus, Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus. pt. ii. 

 p. 24 (1885). 



Biso/i alaskensis, Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Philadelphia, 1897, p. 490. 



Characters. — Skull and horn-cores considerably larger than in the living 

 European and American bisons, with the forehead relatively broad and 

 flat, and the horn-cores not inclined backwardly at the base, which is thus 

 situated nearly in the plane ot the front border of the socket of the eye. 

 The horn-cores themselves long, and generally more or less curving for- 

 wards, although in some cases they are straighter and inclined upwards. 



This species occurs typically in the Plistocene deposits of Europe, 



