

RUMINANTIA. 219 



gentlest hints, to taste some of the good things in his neighbor's 

 stall." If lying down in some narrow way, a person must not 

 disturb them ; but he must either proceed by another road, or 

 wait until the sacred animals are pleased to rise ! 



B. Dante. THE DANTE. This is an Egyptian species, re- 

 sembling the preceding, figures of which are found on ancient 

 tombs of Egypt. 



BISON. (Gr. Bicrwv. named from the Thracian Blaroveg, Bis- 

 tones.) The BISON. 



This generic name first used by Pliny, applies to two living 

 species, one of them European, and now almost extinct; the 

 other American, and still found in great numbers. AUDUBON 

 enumerates five species, three of which, however, are more gen- 

 erally arranged either with the genus Bds, or the genus Bubabus. 

 The European Bison is now found living in the Moldavian and 

 Wallachian districts, and in some parts of the Caucasus ; the 

 other species at one time " ranged over nearly the whole of 

 North America;" it is now found in vast herds in some of the 

 Western prairies, and is thinly scattered along the valleys 

 which border upon the Rocky Mountains. The districts which 

 these animals inhabit, are described very graphically in Washing- 

 ton Irving's "Tour in the Prairies." They delight in level 

 prairies, covered with luxuriant vegetation, bordering the hills of 

 limestone formation, where saline springs or marshes abundantly 

 occur. The American species, B. Americanus, has fifteen pairs of 

 ribs ; the European has fourteen, (one more than the common ox.) 

 This points out the main difference between the two species. 



The Bison is marked by its broad and slightly arched fore- 

 head, and the long and wavy hair upon it, forming on the chin 

 and breast a kind of beard ; by the elevation of the withers, aris- 

 ing from the lengthened spmous processes for the attachment of 

 the ligament and enormous muscles of the neck, serving to sup- 

 port the large and ponderous head ; and by a continuous fatty 

 deposition, or sort of hunch, from which the back* gradually 

 declines, the hind quarters appearing disproportionably weak 

 and small ; and by its short but amazingly powerful limbs. 

 The horns are short, tapering and erect; the general color dark 

 umber brown, becoming in winter tinged with a grayish white. 

 The aspect of ihis animil is fierce, wild and malicious; the 

 eyes being small, fiery, and half hid in the shaggy hair inter- 

 mingled with wool, which copiously overspreads its head and 

 shoulders. The height at the shoulders is upwards of six feet; 

 the length (exclusive of the tail, which is twenty inches) is eight 

 and a half feet; the weight of a fat bull is generally near two 



