8 DR. EMMONS' REPORT. April. 



and in the order ruminantia, or animals which chew the cud, or chew 

 their food a second time, is placed the ox." He belongs to the tribe 

 bovidce and genus bos ; characterized by the horns occupying the 

 crest, and projecting sideways at first, and being cellular within. The 

 domestic ox belongs to a sub genus, or bos taurus. As an individ- 

 ual of this sub genus, he furnishes the following distinguishing marks 

 or characters : whole number of teeth, 30 ; incisors or cutting teeth 

 six in the under jaw, none in the upper ; canine or tusks, none ; 

 molars or grinders, twelve in each jaw. The whole is expressed 



. , 6 6 



more concisely as follows, mcisors -tt-, canmes -q-, molars g-g 



total 30. 



The native country of the ox is not certainly known, but he was 

 probably domesticated very soon after the flood, and perhaps before, 

 as we have this passage in the 4th chapter of Genesis, " Jabal was 

 the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." 

 The time therefore of his reclamation from the wilds of the forest, 

 as well as his native country, is veiled in obscurity. The effect of 

 domestication in this, as in all other instances, has been to diminish 

 the size of the animal, and extinguish to a great extent the natural fe- 

 rocity. 



According to tradition, the wild oxen of Britain belonged to a 



very large race, and were very ferocious. Besides this traditionary 

 evidence, there are found, in almost every country of Europe, the 

 skull bones of oxen much larger than those of any of the living 

 races. There is some doubt whether the animals to which these 

 fossil bones belonged, were the parents of the present domestic ox. 

 In this country, also, we have indications of the former existence on 

 this continent of at least two, if not three species which have be- 

 come extinct. We have also two living species, viz., the bos 

 Americanus, or bison, and the bos moschiferus or musk ox. The 

 former is now driven far westward, but once inhabited the states bor- 

 dering on the Atlantic ; and the latter is now confined to the Arctic 

 Circle, but is supposed to have existed as low as 40° of latitude. 

 Of the extinct species one has been named bos Pallasii by Dr. De 

 Kay. Its skull was thrown out of the earth at the time of the erup- 

 tion at New Madrid in 1812. 



Dr. Harlan has described two other skulls, supposed to belong to 

 two distinct species. One, the bos bombifrons, the other, bos 



