82 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIV, 



Mr. L. M. Turner (Contr. to the Nat. Hist, of Alaska, 1886, p. 

 203), referring to the Musk-Ox, says : " There is no positive evi- 

 dence of the actual occurrence of this mammal within the region 

 here included [the Yukon District and the Aleutian Islands] ; 

 but, as the northern Innuit and Indians are so well acquainted 

 with it, there can be no doubt that it has but recently disap- 

 peared, if scattered individuals do not yet inhabit the region northeast 

 of the Rumianzof Mountains and near the Arctic coast." (Italics 

 not in the original.) 



In 1898, Mr. Frank Russell, in his ' Explorations in the Far 

 North' (1898, pp. 235,236), makes the following statement: 

 " The musk-ox was formerly common between the Mackenzie 

 and Behring Straits, as evidenced by the remains which are scat- 

 tered over the tundra. The oldest natives at Point Barrow say 

 that their fathers killed musk-ox which were then abundant. 

 Their present distribution is from the vicinity of the Mackenzie 

 north of Great Bear Lake to Sabine Island (74 47' N.) on the 

 east coast of Greenland, and from 60 N. in the Barren Ground 

 west of Hudson's Bay through the Northern Islands as far as man 

 has penetrated." 



The foregoing respecting the supposed existence, or recent ex- 

 istence, of the Musk-Ox at points near the Arctic coast of Alaska 

 is of special interest, though mainly in the nature of hearsay 

 evidence, in connection with the statements here following : 

 About a year since I was informed by Mr. E. Bowsky, a fur- 

 dresser of New York City, that he had received a fine large male 

 Musk-Ox skin from Alaska. Although I was naturally skeptical 

 as to the locality, I examined the specimen with great interest ; 

 it seemed, however, not to differ appreciably from the Musk-Ox 

 of the Barren Grounds east of the Mackenzie. It was an unusu- 

 ally fine winter skin, with the skull. A few months later the same 

 gentleman kindly called my attention to two other supposed Alas- 

 kan Musk-Oxen, a pair, adult male and female, and submitted 

 correspondence showing that they were purchased and shipped at 

 Camden Bay, Alaska, by the agents of the well-known and relia- 

 ble house of Herman Liebes & Co., of San Francisco, Cal, who 

 had also obtained, from the same point, the first specimen of this 

 series of three. They were supposed to have been killed and 

 prepared by the natives, who presumably obtained them a few 



