364 UNGULATA 



and Dakota. A herd of some two hundred wild individuals, 

 derived from the northern herd, is preserved by the United States 

 Government in the Yellowstone National Park ; arid it is believed 

 that some five hundred of the race known as Wood-Bison exist in 

 British territory ; but with these exceptions this magnificent species 

 is exterminated. The multitudes in which the American Bison 

 formerly existed are almost incredible ; the prairies being absolutely 

 black with them as far as the eye could reach, and the numbers 

 in the herds being, as we have said, reckoned by millions. Mr. 

 Hornaday even considers that the whole of the game in South 



Fio. 149. The Yak (Bos grunniens), domestic variety. 



Africa was never equal to the number of Bison on an equal area of 

 the American prairies. 



An extinct Bison from the Pleistocene of Texas, known as Bos 

 latifrons, was probably the ancestor of the recent American species. 



The Yak (Bos grunniens) appears to be allied both to the Bisons 

 and the true Oxen, being distinguished from the former by the 

 different position occupied by the long hair, which forms a fringe 

 investing the shoulders, flanks, and thighs, and grows over the 

 whole of the tail. In the skull the orbits are less tubular, the fore- 

 head flatter, and the premaxillse less widely separated from the 

 nasals. There is no distinct dewlap. Wild Yaks inhabit the 

 higher regions of Chinese Tibet and the region of the Karakoram, 

 as well as the more outlying parts of Ladak, such as the Chang- 

 chemo valley. Owing, however, to incessant pursuit those now found 

 within the territories of the Maharaja of Kashmir are stragglers 



