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THE AMEEICAIT BISONS. 



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5. Bison prlscus. Specimen from Sandliofen, Province of Mannheim. Measurements from Meyer's 



Ueher fossile Reste von OcJisenQ^OY, Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., Vol. XIII), No. 7 of Meyer's Memoir. 



6. Bison i^riscus. Specimen from Pavia, on tlie Po. No. 8 of Meyer's Memoir (1. c.). 



7. Bison priscus. Believed to be from Hungary. No. 9 of Meyer's Memoir (1. c). 



8. Bison priscus. Banks of tlae Rhine near Erfelden. No. 10 of Meyer's Memoir (L c). 

 9-15. Bison priscus. Banks of the Rhine. Nos. 11- 16 of Meyer's Memoir (1. c). 



16. Bison priscus. Cast of specimen from Austrian Italy, in the Museum of Parma. (No. 1199 of 



Ward's Series of Casts.) 



17. Bison lalifrons Leidy. Peale's original specimen. 



18. Bison lalifrons. San Felipe, Texas. Specimen described by Dr. Carpenter. 



19. Bison lalifrons. Adams County, Ohio. Measurements communicated by Dr. O. D. Norton. 



Synompny and Nomenclature. — By European writers the remains of the ex- 

 tinct bisons found in North America have been always referred to the Bimn 



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priseiis of the Old World. Dr. Leidy^ who is almost the only American 

 author who has written about them, has always viewed them as not only 

 distinct from the European^ but has at different times regarded them as 

 belongmg to several different, species. 



The first specific systematic name, however^ bestowed upon any species 

 of extinct bison was that of lalifrons^ given by Dr. Harlan (see the pre- 

 ceding table of synonymy) in 1825. The specimen described by Harlan 

 was the now historic one described first by Peale, and subsequently by 

 Cuvier and Leidy; but Harlan adds^ "Similar fossil skulls have been found 

 in Europe^ on the borders of the Rhine, near to CracoviC; in Bohemia/' etc. 

 Previously the remains of the fossil bisons had all been universally referred 

 to the aurochs [Bison bonccsus Gr^y)^ although in this same year Cuvier, in 

 the third edition of his " Ossemens Fossiles/' admitted the fossil bison as a 



third species, without, however, giving it a distinctive name."^ Two years 

 later Bojanus applied to the extinct bisons, including the American, the spe- 

 cific name o£ priscus (Urns priscus). f 



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* Dans ma premiere edition, j*avois consicle're les cranes fossiles d'Europe comme appartenant h Faurochs 

 ordinaire, et ceux de Siberie comme provenant d'une cspece perdue ; maintcnant que j'ai reconnu les uns 

 et les autres pour etre de la m6me espeee, il s'agiroit de savoir s'ils seroient tons de I'aurochs ; mais comme 

 je Yicns de constater aussi qu'ils ne ressemblent pas plus h I'aurochs que celui-ci ne ressemble au bison 

 d'Amerique, et comme ces deux animaux sont distincts par I'espece, on ne voit pas pourquoi celui qui a produit 

 les grands cranes fossiles ne seroit pas d'une troisieme especc, aussi distincte que les deux premieres, et dont 

 les caracteres-auroicnt tenu a d'autrcs parties qu'k la tete. La grandeur do ses cornes pourroit deja le 



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faire soupconner, car les plus vieux bisons et les plus yieux aurochs n'ont que des cornes mediocrcs. M. 

 Hacquet m'ccrit que les plus grands individus n*ont pas de noyaux de cornes de plus d'un pied de long." 



Ossemens Fossiles, 3d Ed., Tome IV, p. 148. 

 t Bojanus's words are as follows: '^ Quam prisci aevi terrarum etiam, a quibus hoc tempore prorsus 



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