i6S THE BUFFALO, &c. 



dividuals have been chofen for a breed ; for, In 

 general, we find, that the bunched oxen in a 

 domeftic flate, like our own domeftic kind, are 

 fmaller than thofe in a wild ftate. Thefe faOs 

 ihall afterwards be fully confirmed by the tefti- 

 monies of travellers. 



5. The bonafus of Arifiotle is the fame animal 

 ivith the bifon of the Latins. This proportion 

 cannot be proved, without a critical difcuf- 

 iion, with which I fhall not fatigue the reader *, 

 Gefner, who was a man of literature as well 

 as a naturalift, and who thought, as I do, that 

 the bonafus might probably be the bifon, has 

 examined the notices given of the bonafus by 

 Ariftotle with more care than any other perfon ; 

 he has, at the fame time, corrected feveral er- 

 roneous expreflions in Theodore Gaza's tran- 

 flation ; which errors, however, have been fer- 

 vilely copied by all the fucceeding naturalifts. 

 From thefe affiftances, and by rejecting from 

 the remarks of Ariftotle whatever is obfeure, 

 contradictory, or fabulous, the following feems 

 to be the refult. The bonafus is a wild ox of 

 Poeonia, and is equally large, and of the fame fi- 

 gure with the domeftic ox. But his neck, from 

 the fhoulders to the eyes, is covered with long 



hair, 



* Here it is neceiTary to compare what Arifiotle lias faid 

 of the bonafus (Hij}. anhn. lib. 9. cap. 45.^ .with what he clfe- 

 where remarks, (lib. de Mirabilibus) and likewife the particu- 

 lar pafTages in his MJl. anim. lib. 2. c. 1. 6" 16. and alfo to read 

 Gefner s diflertaUiori on this fubject ; Ilijl. quad. />. 131. 



