THE BUFFALO, &c. ' 157 



undergone, from the combined effects of climate, 

 food, and management, in a wild, and in a do- 



meftic ftate. 



The bunch which fome oxen carry between 

 their fhoulders, both in a domefticand wild ftate, 

 is the mod general and mod remarkable variety. 

 This race of oxen are denominated bifons ; and, 

 it has been imagined, till now, that they were of 

 a different fpecies from the common ox. But, 

 as we are certain that thefe animals produce 

 with the common kind, and that the bunch 

 diminifhes from the firft generation, and difap- 

 pears in the fecond or third, it is evident, that 

 this bunch is only an accidental and variable 

 character, which prevents not the bunched ox 

 from belonging to the fame fpecies with our ox. 

 Now, in the defert parts of Europe, there were, 

 in ancient times, wild oxen, fome of them with 

 bunches, and others without bunches. Hence 

 this variety feems to be natural, and to proceed 

 from the abundance and more fubftantial quality 

 of the food ; for we remarked, when treating of 

 the camels, that, when meager and ill fed, they 

 have not even the leaft veftige of a bunch. The 

 ox without a bunch was called <vrochs and tn- 

 rochs in the language of the Germans, and, in 

 the fame language, the bunched ox was called 

 <vifen. The Romans, who knew neither of thefe 

 wild oxen till they faw them in Germany, a- 

 dopted their German names. From vrochs they 

 made vrus, and from vifen y bifon. They never 



imagined 



