American Bison 



8i 



legs. The mane on the head, neck, chest, etc., dark bhickish-brown, that 

 on the withers a paler brown, and the pelage of the hind-quarters a kind 

 ot cinnamon-colour. 



In the skeleton the neural spine of the sixth cervical vertebra^ is up- 

 right, and that of the seventh relatively taller than in the European species, 

 while the spines of all the dorsals are absolutely higher. These features 



^^m:<^m^M^'^-:i^H^ i,H^ ^^£^ 



Fig. 1 6. — American Bisnn and Wapiti in the Park at Woburn Abbcv. From a photograph by the 



Duchess of Bedford. 



seem undoubtedly indicative ot the greater specialisation of the American 

 as compared with the European animal, as is also the marked convexity ot 

 the forehead. And assuming the New World form to have been derived 

 from the European species, such greater specialisation is exactly what 

 might have been expected. 



In addition to a calf, the British Museum possesses a mounted adult 

 bull from the Yellowstone river, and the head of a second from Colorado, 

 the latter presented by Lord Walsingham. Both appear to be in summer 



■* See note on p. 8. 

 M 



