MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 261 
- tion of the tail, and has a shorter terminal pencil upon the tail.* 
The male stands nearly six feet high at the shoulder, includ- 
ing the protuberance, or ‘‘hump,” which is so characteristic a 
factor in the ensemble of the animal. The female is twelve 
inches shorter and is but four and a half feet high at the hip, 
while the male is four and two-thirds. <A large male may reach 
a weight of nearly a ton, while the females range from one 
thousand to fifteen hundred pounds. The horns are short and © 
in the males are very thick at the base, curving rapidly up- 
ward, outward and recurving to the end, becoming rapidly con- 
tracted to the sharp apex. In the female the base is smaller 
and the horn is more slender and curved. ‘Fhe muzzle is broad 
and naked as in other Bovide. The hoofs are short, broad 
ahd rounded, those of the hind feet being most pointed. The 
pelage is woolly and dense, furnishing a valuable and much 
prized article of commerce. The prevailing color is a dark 
brown, darkest on the head, legs and tail, the long hairs of the 
latter being restricted to the terminal pencil. In summer the 
color is lighter, and in old individuals it becomes permanently 
bleached out to a yellowish grizzle. Young animals are dark 
brown, though the calf is lighter. The ‘‘hump” and head are 
covered by a mane of considerable length. The chin and 
throat are also bearded. The mane extends down the median 
line above nearly to the tail, and there are tufts of shaggy hair 
about the legs. The female, though smaller is not noticeably 
different from the male in color. Although albinism is rare, 
specimens are sometimes found partly or nearly entirely 
white. Such a specimen is now (1886) on exhibition in the 
museum of the State University of Minnesota. Black or 
melanic forms also occur. 
The American bison is smaller than the European but has 
larger shoulders. It seems to be more highly specialized. The 
pelvis is much smaller and the tail shorter in B. americanus. 
Allen finds the ratio of humerus and radius to femur and tibia 
as 75—88 to 100 in B. americanus, and as 78-84 to 100 in B. ewro- 
peus. The only constant differences in the skull seem to consist 
in a greater massiveness of the bones of the skull of the aur- 
ochs. The individual variation is as great as in most of the 
larger mammals. This is supplemented by a tendency to form 
local varieties, two of which are sometimes recognized, the 
wood buffalo and mountain buffalo. The former is said to be 
* A curious error occurs in the explicit measurements given by Allen, making the 
total length of the tail four inches less than that of its pencil of hairs. 
