22 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
subject much attention — as synonymes of Bison latifrons, on the supposition 
that these remains, notwithstanding other important differences than that of 
size existing between them and those of the large Bison latifrons, merely repre- 
sented the female of B. latifrons. With the light afforded by additional re- 
mains of both forms, a different view now seems tenable, namely, that to the 
smaller species are referable not only the original fragment on which B. 
antiquus was based, but also other remains from California and Alaska. 
Dr. Leidy’s original description of the Big-bone Lick fragment is as 
follows :— 
“The specimen is rather too small [a fragment] to determine positively 
whether it is a distinct species or not from Bison latifrons. It did not belong 
to an aged individual, as the suture is still open between the frontal bone 
and that portion of the parietal which forms the upper boundary of the 
temporal fossa. It belonged to a species of Bison, as indicated by the ad- 
vanced position of the horn-core, and resembles more the corresponding part 
in the Bison priscus of Europe, as represented by Cuvier and others, than it 
does that of Bison latifrons. The horn-core is more abruptly conoidal, and 
relatively more curved than in the latter. It is not improbable, however, 
that the fragment may have belonged to the female of Bison latifrons. The 
only characteristic measurements to be obtained from it are as follows : — 
“Length of the fragmént of horn-core, 10 inches [or 255 mm. ]. 
Circumference on a line with the basal margin inferiorly, 144 inches [or 368 mm.]. 
« five inches from the basal margin superiorly 10 inches [or 255 mm.].” 
In respect to the curvature of the horn-core this fragment bears a strong 
resemblance to the corresponding part of Bison crassicornis of Richardson, and 
also to specimens from California. So great is this resemblance that Dr. 
Leidy at first referred the California form to his Bison antiquus, and the speci- 
men he described (now in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences 
of Philadelphia) is still thus labelled. 
Dr. Leidy described the California specimen as approaching “ sufficiently 
near in size and form to the corresponding “fragment of a skull from Big- 
bone Lick, Kentucky, referred to Bison antiquus, that it might be regarded as 
of the same species. Both probably belong,” Dr. Leidy, however, adds, “to 
the female of Bison Jatifrons, as originally suggested in relation to the Big-bone 
Lick fragment.”* Dr. Leidy later adds that “it [the California specimen] 
* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 85. 
