1901.] Allen, Musk-Oxen of Arctic America and Greenland, ol 



OCCURRENCE OF MUSK-OXEN IN ALASKA. 



Richardson, in the 'Fauna Boreali- Americana ' (Vol. I, 1829, 

 p. 276), says: "From Indian information we learn that to the 

 westward of the Rocky Mountains, which skirt the Mackenzie, 

 there is an extensive tract of barren country, which is also inhabi- 

 ted by the musk-ox and reindeer. It is to the Russian traders 

 that we must look for information on this head ; . . ." In 

 the ' Zoology of the Voyage of the Herald ' (Fossil Mammals, 

 1854, pp. 22-28), he describes various fossil remains of the Musk- 

 Ox from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay, and repeats, in sub- 

 stance (/. <:., p. 28), the above-quoted statement from the ' Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana.' He also considers that the Musk-Ox skull 

 described by Buckland (Beechey's Voyage to the Pacific, App.), 

 found "on the beach at the bottom of the mud-cliff in Esch- 

 scholtz Bay," and " so slightly decayed that it seems to have 

 been derived from a carcass that has long since been stranded by 

 the waves," and not figured, " as it cannot be considered fossil," 

 really had fallen from the cliff, and was therefore to be consid- 

 ered as a part of the fossil fauna of the ice-cliff (Richardson, 

 /. c., p. 22). 



Mr. John Murdoch states (Rep. Exped. to Point Barrow, 1885, 

 p. 98) that just before leaving Point Barrow, a skull of a Musk- 

 Ox "was brought in by one of the trading parties from the east- 

 ward. ... In the hurry and excitement of the time, we 

 neglected to find out more accurately the locality from which it 

 came. The party had been as far east as the Colville, and the 

 skull may have been brought from there. The natives knew the 

 animal well, and called it by nearly the same name as the eastern 

 Eskimos, but none had ever seen it alive. The skull obtained 

 appeared very old and much weathered." Apropos of this skull, 

 Dr. F. W. True says (Nelson's Report on Nat. Hist. Coll. 

 made in Alaska, 1887, p. 233, footnote) : " This may be subfos- 

 sil. The skull procured by Mr. Murdoch is very much broken 

 and worn." 



According to Mr. Witmer Stone, in his recent * Report on the 

 Birds and Mammals collected by the Mcllhenny Expedition to 

 Pt. Barrow, Alaska' (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1900, p. 

 35), the Mcllhenny collection made at Point Barrow contained 

 " One weather-beaten [Musk-Ox] skull picked up on the tundra." 



[Marc A, igoi^\ 6 



