THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 405 



was a wonder to behold. I have now in my possession a small lock of 

 hair which I plucked from his forehead, and its length is 22£ inches. 

 His horns were entirely concealed by the immense mass of long uair that 

 nature had piled upon his head, and his beard was as luxuriant as his 

 frontlet. 



The nostril opening is large and wide. The color of the hairless por- 

 tions of the nose and mouth is shiny Vandyke brown and black, with a 

 strong tinge of bluish-purple, but this latter tint is not noticeable save 

 upon close examination, and the eyelid is the same. The iris is of an 

 irregular pear shaped outline, lf- 6 - iuches in its longest diameter, very 

 dark, reddish brown in color, with a black edging all around it. Ordi- 

 narily no portion of the white eyeball is visible, but the broad black 

 band surrounding the iris, and a corner patch of white, is frequently 

 shown by the turning of the eye. The tongue is bluish purple, as are 

 the lips inside. 



The hoofs and horns are, in reality, jet black throughout, but the 

 horn often has at the base a scaly, dead appearance on the outside, and 

 as the wrinkles around the base increase with age aud scale up and 

 gather dirt, that part looks gray. The horns of bulls taken in their 

 prime are smooth, glossy black, and even look as if they had been half 

 polished with oil. 



As the bull increases in age, the outer layers of the horn begin to 

 break off at the tip and pile up one upon another, until the horn has be- 

 come a thick, blunt stub, with only the tip of what was once a neat and 

 shapely point showing at the end. The bull is then known as a " stub- 

 horn," and his horns increase in roughness and unsightliness as he 

 grows older. From long rubbing on the earth, the outer curve of each 

 horn is gradually worn flat, which still further mars its symmetry. 



The horns serve as a fair index of the age of a bison. After he is 

 three years old, the bison adds each year a ring around the base of his 

 horns, the same as domestic cattle. If we may judge by this, the horn 

 begins to break when the bison is about ten or eleven years old, and the 

 stubbing process gradually continues during the rest of his life. Judg- 

 ing by the teeth, and also the oldest horns I have seen, I am of the 

 opinion that the natural life time of the bison is about twenty-five years; 

 certainly no less. 



Bison americanus. (Male, eleven years old. Taken December 6, 1866. Montana.) 



(No. 157U3, National Museum collection..) 



Feet. Inches. 



Height at shoulders to the skin 5 8 



Height at shoulders to top of hair 6 



Length, head and body to insertion of tail 10 2 



Depth of chest 3 10 



Depth of flank 2 



Girth behind fore leg 8 4 



From base of horns around end of nose 3 6 



Length of tail vertebrae 1 3 



Circumference of muzzle back of nostrils 2 2 



