858 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
together and follow blindly the vacillating leadership of the old 
ram is unquestionably sheep-like. When thoroughly frightened 
they take to the hills, ascending precipitous slopes, and scaling 
rocks with great agility. How the Musk-ox obtains food during 
the long Arctic night is very extraordinary; but that it is a 
resident throughout the year cannot be doubted, as a month after 
the reappearance of sun-light, in the end of March, and at the very 
coldest season of the year, we found the fresh traces of these 
animals in the vicinity of our winter-quarters. I am quite sure 
that the number of Musk-oxen in Grinnell Land is extremely 
limited, whilst the means of subsistence can only supply the wants 
of a fixed number; consequently, after an invasion such as ours, 
when every animal capable of affording food was ruthlessly but 
necessarily slaughtered, it must take some years to restock the 
ground. I lay stress upon this point, because the programme 
for future American research by Smith Sound contemplates the 
establishment of colonies at various points, one especially sug- 
gested being the winter-quarters of the ‘Discovery’ in Lady 
Franklin Sound, and some reference has been made to the 
abundance of game likely to be obtained there. The cause of 
the disagreeable odour which frequently taints the flesh of these 
animals has received no elucidation from my observations. It 
does not appear to be confined to either sex, or to any particular 
season of the year; for a young unweaned animal killed at its 
mother’s side, and transferred within an hour to the stew-pans, 
was as rank -and objectionable as any. The flesh of some of 
these animals of which I have partaken was dark, tender, and 
as well-flavoured as that of four-year old South-down mutton. 
Richardson states that the food of the Musk-ox is at one season 
of the year grass, at another lichen. Leaves and stems of the 
willow, with grasses, were in the stomachs I examined. This 
animal is infested with two species of worms, a Tenia and a 
Filaria. 
Rangifer tarandus.—The Reindeer was not actually met with 
by our Expedition to the northward of Port Foulke, but its newly- 
shed horns were found in the Valley of the Twin Glacier, 
Buchanan Strait. JI came across a skeleton recently picked by 
wolves in the neighbourhood of Radmore Harbour, lat. 80° 27’ N. 
At various points along the coast of Grinnell Land, further north, 
we came upon shed antlers, but these may have been of considerable 
