IO2 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



hoof is round and the inner one pointed. The horns 

 of the musk ox average twenty-five inches in length, 

 with a maximum record of thirty-six inches ; those 

 of bulls almost meet in the middle line by their bases, 

 but those of cows are much smaller and never 

 develop the frontal helmet. The horns of calves are 

 at first thimble-like projections, afterwards growing 

 out as long straight spikes before the curved basal 

 portion of the horn is developed. 



The musk ox may be divided according to its 

 coloration into two well-marked local races. Thus 

 the Canadian form is of a general grizzled umber 

 brown hue ; there is a saddle of light yellow on the 

 middle of the back, and the under wool is light 

 brown. Old bulls become nearly black on the head, 

 neck, and sides ; there is often if not always some 

 white on the legs, irrespective of sex. In Eastern 

 Greenland, however, the musk oxen are of a rufous 

 brown colour on the shoulders, have a light brown 

 or whitish saddle on the back, and are dark brown 

 on the rest of the body ; there is a large white or 

 whitish patch on the face between the base of the 

 horns and the muzzle, the rest of the face being 

 greyish. The nose is white ; the ears and an 

 ill-defined patch below them are grey, while the feet 

 are white or greyish, gradually merging above into 

 the darker body hue. So remarkably does the 

 Greenland musk ox differ from the Canadian 

 animal that some have proposed to rank it as 



