Mr. W. B. Dawkins on Ovibos moschatus. 139 



trace a continuous gradation, from specimens in wlaicli the eozoonal 

 structure was distinct, to others in which, if it ever existed, it had 

 been completely obscui'ed by subsequent metamorphism. The 

 results of a very careful and complete examination of the Ophi- 

 calcites of Bavaria by Dr. Giirabel himself have been communicated 

 to the Royal Academy of Munich*. 



Appearances of the same character are presented by a series of 

 specimens of the Serpentinous Limestones from the Primitive 

 Gneiss of Scandinavia, kindly transmitted to me by Prof Loven. 



I venture to hope that the foregoing resume of the present aspect 

 of this subject will be of interest to the Pellowa of the Royal 

 Society. I say the present aspect, because I am strongly con- 

 vinced that we are at present only at the beginning of our know- 

 ledge of this and other ancient types of Foraminiferal structure, 

 and that careful search in promising localities will bring to light 

 many wonders now lying unsuspected in the vast aggregate of 

 pre-Silurian strata. 



May 23, 186/. — Lieut. -General Sabine, President, in the Chair. 



" Ovibos moschatus (Blainville)." By W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., 

 F.G.S. 



Ovibos inoscliatus, more commonly known as the musk-ox, has 

 been described under diiferent names by naturalists as their 

 opinions fluctuated concerning its affinities with the ox, bviflalo, 

 or sheej). It is called the musk-ox by all the arctic explorers. 

 Bos moschatus by Schreber, Zimmermann, Pennant, and Cuvier, 

 musk-buftalo allied to the Bubalus caffir of South Africa by 

 Professor Owen, Ovibos moscliatns by Ue Blainville, Desmarest, 

 Richardson, and M. Lartet. That the latter four naturalists are 

 right in the jjlace they assign to it in the zoological scale, inter- 

 mediate between Ovis and Bos, is proved both by the iiatural his- 

 tory and the osteology of the animal. The absence of a muffle 

 and dewlap, the hairiness of the nostrils, the shoi'tness of tail and 

 smallness of ear, and the possession of two teats only, separate 

 the animal from Bos and connect it with Ovis, while the large size 

 and long gestation of nine months dift'erentiate it from the latter 

 animal. Precisely the same evidence is afforded by its skeleton. 

 In the skull, the tapering of the anterior portion, the prominence 

 of the orbit, the verticality of the facial plate of the maxiUary, the 

 presence of a larmier, the squareness of the basisphenoid, the pre- 

 sence of the occipito-parietal suture on the coronal surface — in the 

 dentition the sharpness of the costse 1, 2, and 3, and the absence 

 of the accessory column from the inner interspace of the lobes 

 of the upper teeth, are among the chief ovine characters ; and 

 throughout the skeleton the same ovine tendency is manifested. 



* " Ueber das Vorkomnien von Eozoon im ostbayerischen Urgebirge," aiis d. 

 Sitzungsber. d. k. Acad. d. W. in Miinchen, 1866, i. 1. 



