148 DB. E. LONTTBEBG C> T THE [Feb. 20, 



I have described the shape and arrangement of these papilla? 

 rather fully in order to show that these conditions hardly offer 

 any characteristics of systematic value, as they are subject to much 

 variation even individually, and distant forms are sometimes more 

 alike than nearly related ones. The likeness between Ovibos and 

 liangifer may depend on a similar way of feeding. In both the 

 strongly developed lips are certainly of use when they nip off 

 lichens from rocks and stones. If they had only thin lips, they 

 might scratch and hurt their teeth when feeding on that material. 

 The warty lamina on the lips are also useful when seizing other 

 food such as the twigs of the arctic willow, and against these hard 

 twigs the strong development of the papilla? of the mouth is of 

 protective value. There seem to be several ways of seizing the 

 food among the Pecora. .Bos uses the tongue ; Oris and Copra bite 

 at once, and their lips are chiefly taste-organs ; liangifer and Ovibos 

 use the lips as pincers ; and Alces uses its great movable muzzle as 

 a kind of trunk, but the lips of the latter are smooth, not provided 

 with horny warts as in the Eeindeer and Musk-ox ; the function is 

 thus different. 



The tonsils in Ovibos have four or five openings. 



The oesophagus is provided with a strong outer layer of muscle 

 (3^ mm.), and interiorly has longitudinal folds. These are of two 

 kinds, namely 7-8 large ones from 2 to 4 mm. in height, and 

 small ones measuring 1 mm. or less. The former disappear by 

 stretching and are produced by folding of the whole mucous 

 membrane, but the latter seem to be merely epithelial ridges \ 



The paunch is of course large. The zoologist of the expedition 

 emptied 22 litres of fodder out of that of an old Musk-ox " from 

 Sabine Island ; but there is no proof that it was fully distended, 

 and a quantity was left in the preserved ventricle. The right and 

 left sacs of the paunch do not extend equally in aboral directions 

 as in Bos, the right being a little the longer, as in Ovis. Both 



Fig. 4. 



7 



Papilla of the paunch of Musk-ox. 



sacs are, however, more broadly rounded, and the constriction 

 between them is, as it seems, not so strong as, for instance, in 

 Copra. The distance from the cardia to tbe end of the left sac- 

 is 41, and to the end of the right sac 44 cm. ; both measurements 

 being taken when the stomach lies flat and empty. Transversely 



1 This agrees with the corresponding features in Bos taurus as described by 

 Oppel (Lehrb. d. vergl. Anat. d. Wirbeltiere) after Schiitz. 

 1 Total length 228 cm. 



