174 The Musi' Ox. ' 



moRi, hivgelv dcvelojie'] in the oM males. The musk-ox has also, 

 the peciiliai'ity in the bovine ti'ibe of the want of a tail ; the cau- 

 dal vertebra?, only six in number, bejno; very flat, and nearly as 

 short, in refei'ence to the pelvis, as in the human species ; the exr 

 treme one ending evenly vi^ith tlie tuberosities of tlie ischium. A 

 tail is not needed by this animal, as in its elevated snmmer haunts 

 moschetoes and other winged pests are eomparntively few, wiiile 

 its close, woolly, and shaggy hair furnishes its body with sufiicii-nt 

 protection from their assaults. The fore-pasterns are provided on 

 their outsides with a slender accessory bone, of about half their 

 length. The fossil Irish e!k and musk-deer have also rudiment- 

 ary toes, but of a different form. Though I have not been al>lo 

 to ascertain that the r;uige of the species was ever gTeater than it 

 is known to be at presrut, I have read soiueAvhese of a skull hay- 

 ing been found in Gres-nl'ind. One in tolerable preservation, but 

 defective in the nose, was procured by Captain Beaohy, from that 

 very curious de]iosit of bones in the frozen cliffs of Eschscholtz 

 Bay of Behring's Straits. That skull is nov.- preserved ni the 

 British Museum, and a perfect skeleton of the recent anin al ex- 

 ists in the museum at Haslar Hospital. — Richanhon Vol. 1, ^Jc/f/e 

 322. 



Tlie general habits ot the musk-oxen of the Archipehigo resem- 

 ble strongly those of the reindeer ; but they appear to be principally 

 confined to Melville Island, Bank's laud and a large island to the 

 south-east of the latter, 



None of them v-^ere seen alive on Bathurstor Coruvrallis Land, 

 although ancient skulls and bones have been found on both shores 

 of Wellington and the Queen's Channel, yet not in very great 

 numbers. One musk-ox was found, in 1851, in Byan Martin 

 island; it appeared to have died from old age or starvation. 

 Captain M'Clurc only obtained three oxen from Mercy Bay, but 

 subsequent visitors to Bank's Land, Captain Mecham and Mr. 

 Krabbe, have seen nurabei's. Yet, so far as places visited can be 

 taken as an authority upou the subject of their locality, it appears 

 as if the soutii-west extreme of Melville Island was their favourite 

 haunt, especially that portion of it lying between Liddon Gulf and 

 Cape Russell ; and it is worthy of I'emark, that that portion of 

 Melville Island, altliough possessing a southern aspect, impino-es 

 upon the vast area of never-thawing ice, that " land of the white 

 bear," from whence the west wind appeared to bring sucli intense 

 cold whilst the "Investigator" was imprisoned against Ballast 

 Beach in Bank's Land. 



