ORDER IIUMINANTIA. 373 



racters, which Pliny notices as particular attributes of the 

 Gnoo. The " Fera Catoblepas Modica alioquin caeterisque 

 membris iners, caput tantum prsegrave segre ferens ; id de- 

 jectum semper in terras, &c." being also very apposite to 

 our present subject. The appearance of a stuffed specimen 

 of Musk-Ox, in a decayed state, when the woolly hair is 

 destroyed, is very like a large Gnoo in a similar condition, 

 but an immense geographical distance intervenes between 

 them. In the former, high northern latitude bestows its 

 usual woolly covering; an unknown local cause which de- 

 prives several northern animals, and especially the rumi- 

 nants of the usual length of tail, operates upon the Musk- 

 Ox, and its body is much heavier, and somewhat lower 

 on the limbs than in the Catoblepas. 



The generic characters nearly such as they were esta- 

 blished by M. De Blainville, are a low compact body, the 

 legs short, not bulky, clean in form, and the feet hairy 

 under the heel, behind the junction of the toes; the head 

 short ; the forehead broad and flat ; no suborbital sinus ; a 

 muzzle not naked, but the chaffron narrow at the end, 

 very square, and covered with close hair ; the horns com- 

 mon to both sexes, in contact on the summit of the head, 

 flat and broad, then tapering, and turned down against 

 the cheeks, with the points turned up ; the ears short, ho- 

 rizontal, far back ; the eyes small; the tail short ; mam- 

 mae two? hair very abundant, long, and woolly. 



The Musk-Ox. (0. Moschatus.) It would be a pleonasm 

 to repeat the above characters for the species, which hi- 

 therto stands alone, in a living state, though there is some 

 reason to suspect that another once existed in the north- 

 east of Asia, and possibly even now may exist in that de- 

 solate and extensive region. The Musk-Ox is in size equal 

 to a Guernsey cow ; the hair is brownish-black, occasionally 

 marked with large white Wots ; it grows to a very great 

 length, and is composed of a long and soft down, inter- 



