THE SHOET-NOSED OX. 



159 



THE SHORT-NOSED OX. 



Skiill of short-nosed Ox of the Pampas. 



The common Ox, originally taken over to America by 

 the early Spanish settlers, now runs wild in immense 

 herds on the Pampas, where it is hunted and slain for its 

 hide. Some idea may be formed of the immensity of 

 these herds, from the circumstance that nearly a million 

 of hides are annually exported from Buenos Ayres and 

 Monte Video to Europe. 



Some of the herds in these wild regions have under- 

 gone a most singular modification of the cranium, con- 

 sisting in a shortening of the nasal bones, together with 

 the superior and inferior maxillaries. There is a skull of 

 this variety in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, of 

 which the above is a sketch. 



