SECTION III 



AMERICAN TYPES 



THE AMERICAN BISON 



(Bos [B/so//'\ bison) 

 (Plate VII. Fig. i) 



Although belonging to the same group of the ox tribe, the American 

 bison is such a totally different animal from its European cousin that it is 

 rightly regarded as a distinct species, and is consequently placed in the 

 present section of this work instead of (together with the European 

 species) in the first section. In one sense, indeed, the two species of bison 

 constitute a circumpolar " type," but not in the sense in which that term 

 is used on the present occasion, where it is restricted to forms so closely 

 related to one another that they may well be regarded as specifically 

 identical. 



The present species, of which two races are recognised by American 

 writers, has been so fully described in Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats of AH' 

 Latids, that it will be unnecessary to say much on that point in this place. 

 Among other features, it is specially distinguished from the European bison 

 by its weak hind-quarters, the relatively taller withers, the great mass of 

 blackish brown or brown hair clothing the head, neck, and fore part of the 



