VI. 
THH BUFFALO AND HIS FATHS 
Prruars no indigenous animal of this country has at- 
tracted more attention or met with a greater number of 
biographers than the bison or buffalo. Its history has 
been a tale of extermination, and a very short time will be 
likely to see the last of these noble beasts roaming over 
the plains. for hundreds of years a small remnant of the 
ancient herds of aurochs, the native European bison, have 
been preserved in the parks of the nobility; but in this 
“free” country not even this means of safety seems left 
to our persecuted buffalo. 
To the Spanish colonists the American bison was com- 
monly known under the name of czvola, while the French 
usually called it le bweuf, buffle, vache sauvage, or bison 
* A review of Prof. J. A. Allen’s “The Bison, Past and Present, in this Coun- 
try,’ forming Part IL. of Volume I. of the ‘‘ Memoirs of the Geological Survey 
of Kentucky,” Prof. N. 8. Shaler, Geologist, in charge; also reprinted by the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology as one of its “‘ Memoirs.” Cambridge, 1875. 
