290 ZOOLOGY. 



Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range in Oregon and 

 Washington Territory, and an individual has within a few 

 years been shot on Mount Shasta, California. 



Passing by the gazelles and true antelopes, we come to 

 another characteristic American animal, the musk-sheep 

 (Ovibos moschatus, Fig. 318), now confined to the arctic 

 regions of America, though in postglacial times this, or a 

 very closely allied species, existed as far south as Ohio, and 

 in Europe lived as far south as England, France, and 

 Germany. 



We now come to the bison and ox. The American bison 

 (Bison Americanus; see Frontispiece) formerly ranged from 

 Virginia and Lake Champlain to Florida, and westward 

 from the northern limit of trees to the Rocky Mountains 

 and eastern Mexico. It is now in danger of extermination, 

 being mainly restricted to a few herds on the plains. It is 

 closely allied to the European bison (Bison Enropceus), the 

 "auroch," now preserved in the forests of Bialowicza, and 

 living w r ild in Caucasus. Bos primigenius, which in the 

 time of Ca?sar lived in Germany and England, bearing the 

 name " urns/' is the " ur" of the Niebelungen song. From 

 it has descended the half-wild cattle in certain English 

 parks, also certain large domestic races, such as the Hol- 

 stein and Friesland breeds. From another fossil species 

 (Bos longifrons) arose the so-called brown cattle of Switzer- 

 land, and the "runts" of the Scottish Highlands. Still 

 other domestic races are traced back to another fossil 

 quaternary species, Bos frontosus Nilsson. Our present 

 races of domestic cattle, however, do not represent a genu- 

 ine species, but a number of races which have descended 

 from several fossil species; the name Bos taurus (Fig. 319) 

 is simply, then, a conventional name. The bison is known 

 to breed with cattle in the Western States, though whether 

 the hybrids thus produced are fertile or not is unknown. 



The ox is succeeded by the giraffe (Fig. 320), with its 

 long neck, which makes it the tallest of all quadrupeds. 



The last family of Ungulate?, the CamelidcB, comprises 



