u6 



THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



short, very sharp -pointed, and indistinctly 

 ringed. They are set on the head at some 

 little distance from each other. The tail is 

 moderately long, and tufted at the end; the 

 legs are slender, and the accessory hoofs are 

 pretty long. The tear-pits are wanting, the 

 coat is dark brown, but some parts on the 

 under jaw are white. A half-moon-shaped 

 patch on the breast, and the inner sides of 

 the legs are light in colour. The hair is 

 thinly scattered. Concerning the mode of 

 life of this animal very little is known. It 

 dwells in the mountains of the interior of 

 Celebes, and prefers marshy tracts. It is to 

 be seen in certain zoological gardens, where 

 it exhibits a rather sluggish disposition, but 

 among the natives of the region where it is 

 found it has the reputation of being shy and 

 wild. The form of the horns, the colour, 

 the slender limbs, and the presence of the 

 accessory hoofs give it a good deal of resem- 

 blance to the antelopes in external appear- 

 ance. 



The Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), fig. 191, 

 is found at the present day only in the polar 

 parts of America,^ Greenland, and the terri- 

 tories round Hudson's Bay, while during the 

 Ice Age its domain extended as far as 

 Germany and the middle of France. This 

 is the dwarf among the oxen, for a full-grown 

 bull measures at the shoulders only about four 

 feet. The rather long body, resting on short 

 legs, is completely covered with long coarse 

 hair, which envelops also the legs as far as 

 the knees, and leaves only the end of the 

 mouth, the region round the eyes, the horns, 

 and the lower parts of the legs free. Mixed 

 with this long hair, which is of a brown 

 colour, is a long dense and bushy wool of a 

 gray colour which imparts a marbled appear- 

 ance to the body generally. A brighter patch 

 is observable on the buttocks. The imper- 

 fectly-developed tail is completely hidden 

 under the fleece. The horns are very thick, 



' It was discovered by Lieut. Greely, the commander of the 

 United States Polar expedition of 1882-83, in Grinnell Land in as 

 high a latitude as 81 1^' N.— Tk. 



are round in section, and their swollen bases 

 meet on the brow. They are peculiarly 

 curved like a fishing-hook, and have their 

 sharp ends directed forwards. The hoofs 

 are strong and broad, the accessory hoofs are 

 small. 



The musk-ox roams over its inhospitable 

 home in large herds. In winter it makes 

 great migrations in order to approach the 

 woods, but it knows how to find the mosses 

 and lichens under the snow. It has been met 

 with in East Greenland in places where the 

 temperature was such as to freeze mercury. 

 It flees from man when it has once become 

 acquainted with him, but when driven into 

 a corner or obliged to defend its young will 

 charge him boldly. Its flesh is often an 

 invaluable resource for those who are com- 

 pelled to pass the winter in the dreary wastes 

 of Polar America. That of the bull has a 

 decidedly musky taste. 



The Buffaloes. 



The Buffaloes (Bubalus) form a pretty dis- 

 tinct sub-group, which has been raised to the 

 rank of a genus. They are oxen with thickset 

 bodies, thick legs, large ears placed at the 

 side of the head, and having hair round the 

 edges, arched brow, very broad muffle, and 

 thick horns, which are curved first outwards 

 and then inwards. The tail is long, the hair 

 coarse and very thinly scattered, so that old 

 animals are almost completely deprived of it. 

 They are forms belonging to the warmer 

 parts of the Old World. 



The Cape Buffalo i^Bubahis coffer), fig. 192, 

 may be taken as the type of the subdivision 

 of the buffaloes with round horns. The head 

 is relatively small, the ears are very large, 

 fringed with long hairs, and spread out side- 

 ways like two fans. The extraordinarily 

 broad bases of the horns meet in the middle 

 line of the brow, and are wrinkled and flat- 

 tened. The very sharp ends are turned 

 upwards and forwards. The small eye has 

 a wild expression. The muffle is very broad. 



