292 



ZOOLOGY. 



The yak, also called the buffalo with a horse's tail, the 

 grunting cow of Tartary, is a small species originally from 

 Thibet. It has a long mane, and a tail with long hairs like 

 the horse. It is with this tail that the standards are made 

 which, with the Turks, serve to distinguish the superior 

 officers. 



The musk ox is an inhabitant of 

 the more northern parts of North 

 America. It climbs over rocks like 

 a goat. Its odour is peculiar ; hence 

 the name ; and its horns are united 

 in the middle of the forehead. 



The American bison strongly 

 resembles the aurochs, but has the 

 limbs shorter, and differs in some 

 other respects, as in having the 

 hair longer. 



The genus sheep (ovis) differs 



but little from the goat. Their horns are disposed to 

 become spiral ; they have no beard, and have the forehead 

 convex. 



A wild species, called argali, with very large horns, seems 

 to be the original of the domestic sheep. They are found in 



Fig. 262 Musk Ox. 



Fig. 262a. Angora Goat.* 



great numbers in Kamtschatka ; in all the lofty mountainous 

 regions of Asia ; in the higher ranges of those of Barbary, 



* It is being now domesticated in France. R. K. 



