71 



less elevated hump ; much smaller, slenderer, and more curved horns ; 

 less heavily developed beard ; less shaggy head, etc. ; but presents no 

 essential difference in color. 



Albinism and Melanism. — Pied individuals are occasionally met with, 

 but they are of rare occurrence. I have seen but a single specimen, the 

 head of which, finely mounted, is now in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology. 



I obtained it from Fort Hayes, Kansas, near which place it was taken 

 in 1870, where it was regarded as a great curiosity. In this specimen (a 

 female), the whole face, from between the horns to the muzzle, is pure 

 white, but in other respects does not differ from ordinary examples. 

 White individuals are still more rare, but are not unknown. A former 

 agent of the American Fur Company, who had unusually favorable 

 oppoitunities of judging, informed me that they probably occur in the 

 proportion of not more than one in millions, he having seen but five in 

 twenty years, although he had met with hundreds of pied ones. Black 

 ones are rather more frequent, but can only be regarded as rare. The 

 fur of these is usually much finer and softer than that of ordinary indi- 

 viduals ; and black robes, from this fact and their, great rarity, bring a 

 very large price. They seem to be more frequent at the northward than 

 elsewhere. 



Varieties. — There are two commonly recognized varieties of the buffalo, 

 known respectively as the Wood Buffalo and the Mountain Buffalo. The 

 Wood Buffalo is described by Hind as larger than the Common Bison of 

 the plains, with very short, soft pelage, and soft, short, uncurled mane, 

 resembling, in these points, the Lithuanian Bison, or Auroch. It is 

 said to be very scarce, and to be found only north of the Saskatch- 

 ewan, and along the flanks of the Rocky Mountains, and to never ven- 

 ture into the plains. A supposed variety of Bison, referred to by some of 

 the northern voyagers as occurring north of Great Slave Lake, and 

 known only from vague rumors current among the natives, is, in all 

 probability, the Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus). (J. A. Allen.) 



Synonomy and Nomenclature. — The American Bison has been known by 

 the specific name americanus, adopted froni Catesby in 1743, coupled with 

 the generic name of either Bos or Bis .n. It thus forms almost the only 

 example among North American Mammals of a species that never had 

 a prominent synonym. 



In the United States this species is usually called the Buffalo, and 

 this term will doubtless never be supplanted. Its correct English name 

 is doubtless American Bison, the name Buffalo being strictly applicable 

 only to the genus Bubalus of Africa and India. The English colonists, 



