The Musk-ox 99 



their full development, until they are quite dark 

 from six to eight inches toward the base ; and 

 as the animal ages the extreme darkness of horn 

 disappears, until finally in the old animal of either 

 sex there remains only a black tip about a couple 

 of inches on the very point of the horn. As the 

 crevice between the horns in both sexes widens, 

 the base of the boss on each side thickens to at 

 least three inches in the bull and two or less in the 

 cow. On the boss the horn is corrugated, but at 

 the turn it becomes smooth, and is polished like 

 an ox horn on the point. 



The largest horns of which I believe there 

 is record are owned by a taxidermist who pur- 

 chased them ; but the locality from which they 

 came is unknown. Their breadth, measured up 

 and down at the crevice of the boss, or, tech- 

 nically speaking, the breadth of palm, is 13^ 

 inches ; the length of horns on outside curve, 30J 

 inches. The next largest pair is in the British 

 Museum and measures 13J inches in breadth and 

 26J in length. The third is i2| by 26J, presented 

 to the British Museum by J. Rae, an old time 

 Hudson's Bay Company factor, and got on the 

 Barren Grounds. The next is 12^ by 27J, the 

 property of the Earl of Lonsdale, who picked up 



