of the Ox and its allied Species. 300 



smell decidedly of musk, especially during the ■winter season, 

 and the name of bison has no doubt been bestowed upon it in 

 consequence of that peculiar odour — the German word wisen 

 or bisem signifying musk. The name of aurochs, by which it 

 is now designated, is probably synonymous with the . Latin 

 vrus, originally applied to another species. 



Gilibert had an opportunity of observing the manners of 

 four young bisons, which were taken during the month of 

 January in the forest of Bialoviezenski. They refused to suck 

 a cow, but were at last induced to receive nourishment from 

 a she-goat, raised on a line with their muzzles, by being 

 placed upon a table. As soon as they were satisfied, they 

 sometimes tossed both nurse and table by a blow of their 

 heads to the distance of six or eight feet. The two males 

 died after a lapse of a month. On the termination of the first 

 year, the small manes of the females had made their appearance 

 They became in season at the age of two years, but refused 

 the approaches of the domestic bull with the greatest indigna- 

 tion. In other respects, they were docile and obedient, ca- 

 ressed their keeper by licking his hands, or rubbing his body 

 gently with their heads and muzzles, and came to him when 

 they heard his voice. They detested the color of scarlet, and 

 drove all the domestic cows from their pastures. The female 

 is said to carry her young eleven months. Judging from tl e 

 appearance of those described by Gilibert, it might be irif 1 

 that they had been produced in the month of December Now 

 Herberstein states, that the thur or real urus produces its 

 young in the spring, and that such as are born in autumn 

 rarely survive. This circumstance may be regarded as an 

 additional support to that theory which maintains that our 

 domestic breed has descended rather from the latter than from 

 the aurochs or European bison. 



3. — The American Bisom. 



[Bos Bison, Linn. Bos Amei icanus, Cmelin. Buffalo of the Anfrlo-Amencnns. 

 and oICatesby's Carolina. American Bison, Shaw. Gen. Zool. pi. 206.) 



According to Raffinesque, this bison has been domesticated 

 in parts of Kentucky and the Ohio. It is reported by some au- 

 thors to have bred with the tame cow of European origin, and 

 the cross breed is said to continue prolific. But this statement 

 requires confirmation. "Our inquiries on the spot," says Ma- 

 jor H. Smith, " never produced a proof, or even an assertion, 

 from the well-informed, that they had seen the hybrid off- 

 spring " 



The head of the species resembles that of the preceding, and 

 the anterior portions of its body are, in like manner, covered 

 by a curled woolly hair, which becomes excessively long during 

 the winter season ; but its legs are shorter, its hinder extremi- 

 ties comparatively weaker, and its tail not nearly so long. It 



