1000.] SOFT ANATOMY OF THE MUSK-OX. 165 



The presence of such a gland is a feature common not only to 

 the Sheep, but to a great number of Antelopes, Deer, and other 

 Euminants. It is thus certainly an ancient characteristic. Its 

 presence in the Musk-ox does not therefore prove close relationship 

 to other forms having such a gland ; and where it is missing, it 

 may have been reduced independently in different forms. 



Both in the fore and in the hind feet of the Musk-ox I have 

 failed to find any glands. This is again another difference from Ovis. 



It is chiefly on the study of the skeleton that the classification 

 of the Musk-ox has been based, the soft anatomy having been 

 almost uuknown. In his paper on Ovibos in the Palseonto- 

 graphical Society's Monographs, vol. xxv., Prof. Boyd Dawkins 

 has treated of the early opinions about this animal. We lind 

 there that the Arctic explorers and the first zoologists to whom 

 the animal was known regarded it as a kind of ox, this being 

 expressed by its first scientific name, Bos moschalus. Blainville 

 thought he recognized in the Musk-ox intermediate characters 

 between sheep and ox, and introduced in 1816 the name Ovibos, 

 which has been adopted by most authors. 



Owen believed, however, that the Musk-ox was more nearly re- 

 lated to the Cape Buffalo and therefore named it Bubalusmoschatus. 

 Riitimeyer placed Ovibos near Budorcas, and both of these forms 

 near the Sheep 1 . Quite lately the affinity between Budorcas and 

 Ovibos has been pleaded by Matschie 2 . Lydekker, in bis ' Wild 

 Oxen, Sheep, and Goats of All Lands,' placed Ovibos as a form 

 " incertos sedis " ; but it seems as if most recent authors are inclined 

 to regard it as a true Sheep, although of a somewhat aberrant type. 

 The question has always been, "Is it a bovine or an ovine form"? 

 No other possibility lias been discussed, except that it might 

 perhaps be an intermediate link. Then, as there seemed to be 

 more likeness with the Sheep than with the Oxen, the decision, as a 

 rule, has favoured the Sheep with this strange form. The different 

 reasons which have prevailed with zoologists to form such a 

 judgment are chiefly founded on osteological characters; and there- 

 fore, as I hope soon to have the opportunity of treating the osteology 

 of the Musk-ox in a separate paper, when I shall enter upon a 

 discussion of the value of these characters, I now confine myself 

 to consider what conclusions may be drawn from the sketch of 

 the soft anatomy given above. 



If we first ask, in what respects does Ovibos agree with the Ovine 

 type, and what is the value of those characters, we arrive at the 

 following result. The hairiness of the muzzle is a resemblance but 

 a rather doubtful one, as Ovibos may independently have obtained 

 this characteristic as an adaptation, and then as a parallelism to 

 the same feature in the Reindeer. This seems the more probable 

 as the broad shape of the Musk-ox's muzzle, and the absence of 

 the mid-fissure of the lip, tend to show that its development has 

 advanced in a different direction from that of the Sheep. On the 



1 Abh. Sohweiz. pal. Ges.. 1877 & 1878. 



2 Sitzungsb. Ges. nat. ¥i eunde, Berlin, 1898. 



