358 UNGULATA 
Tail short, and molar teeth caprine. One existing and two fossil 
species, Palearctic and Nearctic. 
The animal commonly known as the Musk-Ox (Ovibos moschatus), 
though approaching in size the smaller varieties of Oxen, is in 
structure and habits closely allied to the Sheep, its affinities being 
well expressed by the generic name Ovibos bestowed upon it by 
De Blainville. The specific name, as also the common English 
appellatives “ Musk-Ox,” “ Musk-Buffalo,” or ‘“‘ Musk-Sheep,” applied 
to it by various authors, refer to the musky odour which the animal 
exhales. This does not appear to be due to the secretion of a 
special gland, as in the case of the Musk-Deer; but it must be 
Fic. 147.—The Musk-Ox (Ovibos moschatus). 
observed that, except as regards the osteology, very little is known 
of the anatomy of this species. It about equals in size the small 
Welsh and Scotch cattle. The head is large and broad. The horns 
in the old males have extremely broad bases, meeting in the median 
line, and covering the brow and whole crown of the head. They 
are directed at first downwards by the side of the face and then 
turn upwards and forwards, ending in the same plane as the eye. 
Their basal halves are of a dull white colour, oval in section and 
coarsely fibrous; their middle part smooth, shining, and round ; their 
tips black. In the females and young males the horns are smaller. 
and their bases are separated from each other by a space in the 
middle of the forehead. The ears are small, erect, and pointed, and 
nearly concealed in the hair. The space between the nostrils and 
the upper lip is covered with short close hair, as in Sheep and Goats 
without any trace of the bare muffle of the Oxen. The greater part 
