THE AMERICAN" BISOXS. 



31 



^ ^ 



^ 



eighth 



c 



exceed some very stout ones that belong to the latter sex. In Table VIII 

 are given measurements of nine specimens^— -five male and four female, — 

 selected to show the extremes of individual variation, and also the sexual 

 difference in size and form. These specimens are also figured in Plate X. 



r 



From this table it appears that the longest metacarpal of a female B. 

 amcricanus exceeds by ten millimetres the length of the shortest correspond- 

 ing bone of a male, and is only twenty millimetres — or less than one 



— shorter than that of the largest male, while the transverse diame- 



r 



ter of the stoutest male metacarpal is one third greater than that of the 

 smallest female metacarpal. This gives a hint as to the wide 

 that may be looked for in the proportions and size of corresponding parts 

 of the two sexes in the extinct species. 



Synonymy and Nomenclature, — The remains of Bkon antiqims were first re- 

 ferred to under the name of Bos unis by Dr. Buckland, in 1831, the speci- 

 mens being those collected by Captain Beechey, at Eschscholtz Bay. Other 

 remains were next mentioned under the name Bison antiqims by Dr. Leidy, 

 in 1852, this specimen being the one from Big-bone Lick, Kentucky. 

 During the same year Dr. Richardson gave the name crassicornis to remains 

 from Eschscholtz Bay, at the same time doubtfully referring other speci- 

 mens to the Bison priscus of Europe. The name antiqims antedates that of 

 crassicornis by only a few months, but unquestionably has priority. Dr. 

 Leidy's paper, in which antiqims was described, was read July 6, 1852, and 



r 



published prior to the following October; Dr. Eichardson's brochure, con- 

 taining his description of B, crassicornis^ is dated October 1, 1852, but was 

 published subsequently to this date. In case future discoveries show that 

 the name antiqims refers to a different species, or proves to be the female 

 of 5. Mifrons^ the name crassicornis^ of course, then becomes tenable for the 

 smaller Northern and Western extinct bison. 



As already noticed, both the names antiqims and crassicornis] have been 

 regarded, even by Dr. Leidy, as synonymes of ^/^o^z latifrons, wdiile by all 

 foreign writers, except Eichardson, all the remains of extinct bisons found 

 in North America have been regarded as identical with the B. priscus of 

 Europe and Asia, and in some cases as specifically undistinguishable from 

 the existing aurochs. 



^^ 



"'^y 



± 



I 



r 



I 



^- -i 



