Jr. J. McGee — Ovibos cavifrons from Iowa. 217 



Art. XXV. — Ovibos cavifrons from the loess of Iowa; by 



W. J. McGee 



A remarkably perfect specimen of the extinct musk ox of 

 North America has recently fallen into the hands of Prof. S. 

 Calvin, of the Iowa State University. It was found in the 

 loess of the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa, at a point 

 12 feet below the surface and 130 feet above the river. The 

 bones collected comprise the larger part of the cranium with 

 horn cores attached and some of the molars in place, about half 

 of the lower jaw, the atlas, a femur, and a number of other 

 bones in more or less fragmentary condition. The material has 

 been placed in the cabinet of the State University at Iowa City. 



This animal was introduced to science in this country by 

 Dekay in 1828 under the name Bos Pallassi ;* it was more 

 thoroughly investigated in 1852, f and the genus and species 

 characterized in 18534 by Leidy, under the provisional name 

 Bootherium cavifrons ; and in 1869 it was by the same author 

 transferred to the genus Ovibos.§ At that time its remains were 

 known from Fort Gibson, I. T., St. Louis, New Madrid, and 

 Benton Countj^, Mo., Trumbull County, Ohio, Big Bone Lick, 

 Ky., and (probably) "the frozen cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay." 

 The New Madrid specimen, which was the subject of Dekay's 

 description, was thrown out of one of the earth-fissures formed 

 during the great earthquake of 1811-13; and the adhering 

 matrix indicated that it had been imbedded in pebbly and sandy 

 clay containing considerable quantities of lignitized wood. 

 The Fort Gibson specimen, which was Leidy's type, was re- 

 ported to have come from a gravelly bluff of the Arkansas 

 River, but had long been used as a seat "in the hut of an 

 Indian." 



The Council Bluffs discovery is significant, in that it adds an 

 important link to the already strong chain of evidence as to the 

 climate of the loess period. Leidy expresses the opinion that 

 cavifrons was clothed with a long fleece like that of its modern 

 congener; and the occurrence of its remains in the loess is thus 

 indicative of low temperature during the accumulation of this 

 phase of the glacial deposits. The immediate associates of the 

 Council Bluffs individual included the elephant and mastodon, 

 at least one small rodent, paleolithic man according to AugheyJ 



*Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. T., vol. ii, 280-91. 



f Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vol. vi, 71. 



| ''Memoir on the Extinct Species of the American Ox," Smithsonian Contri- 

 butions, vol. v, 12-17. 



§ "The Extinct Mammalian Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska," etc., Journ. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. Phil., 2d ser., vol. vii, 374-5. 



|| Hayden's Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv., for 1874, 254-5. 



