764 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Dr. Lydekker^ considers B. crassicornis as identical with B. priscus^i 

 "since the fossil crania agree precisely with European specimens, and 

 those from Kotzebue Sound were obtained in company with remains 

 of Ulephas primigenms and Otnho.s moschatus.^^ Bison prisons and B. 

 honasus are united^ on the ground that while in the typical forms of 

 priscus "the horns are larger and less curved than in the living 

 aurochs, the specimens in the British Museum seem to indicate a com- 

 plete transition in this respect, and some of them can not be distin- 

 guished from the living race." 



That there is a great variety in the horns of fossil European bison 

 is true, but it seems not at all improbable that two or more species have 

 been confounded, that Bison priscus is a valid species, and that others 

 remain to be described. 



The cast of a bison cranium received from the Brussels Museum and 

 labeled Bison europwns bears some resemblance to B. crassicornis., but 

 differs in the curvature of its horns, the tips being more reHexed. 



In another bison cranium from lUord, Sussex, the horn cores stand 

 nearly at right angles to the long axis of the skull and curve very reg- 

 ularly upward. (See Plate LXXI.) There can be little doubt but what 

 these rei)resent two distinct species. 



Some bison bones were obtained by Capt. C. L. Hooper at Elephant 

 Point, Kotzebue Sound, at the mouth of the Buckland Kiver. They 

 were associated with remains of the mammoth, Elephas primificniiis, and 

 a horse, probably Uqiins fraternns. Tliese bones are of two sizes and 

 may either indicate two sexes or two species, probably the latter. The 

 smaller bones are the size of a large male Bison bison. The large bones 

 are larger than the measurements given by Mr. Stewart-' of bones of B. 

 antiquus (= B. occid entails), although, from the imperfect condition of 

 the ends, the exact measurements can not be given. 



A metacarpal from Alaska in the U.S. National Museum has been 

 ascribed to, and Very likely beli)ngs to, B. crassicornis, although it is of 

 course i)ossible that it pertains to B. occidentalis, since the two overlap 

 in Alaska. 



It is a trirte larger and more robust than any exam])le of B. bison 

 examined, either by Dr. Allen or myself, although we have each had 

 opportunities for examining large series. Otherwise there is no difHer- 

 ence between the metacarpals of the two species. 



1 Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum. II, p. 24. 



^(lem., p. 24. 



=< Kansas University Quarterly, VI, July, 1897, pp. 134, 135 



