8 DR. EMMONS’ REPORT. April, 
and in the order ruminantia, or animals which chew the cud, or chew 
their food a second time, is placed the ox.” He belongs to the tribe 
bovide and genus bos; characterized by the horns occupying the 
crest, and projecting sideways at first, and being cellular within. The 
domestic ox belongs to a sub genus, or bos taurus. As an individ- 
ual of this sub genus, he furnishes the following distinguishing marks 
or characters : whole number of teeth, 30 ; incisors or cutting teeth 
six in the under jaw, none in the upper; canine or tusks, none; 
molars or grinders, twelve in each jaw. The whole is expressed 
; bras 0 , 0 66 
more concisely as follows, incisors @> canines —)-, molars 66 
total 30. 
The native country of the ox is not certainly known, but he was 
probably domesticated very soon after the flood, and perhaps before, 
as we have this passage in the 4th chapter of Genesis, ‘¢ Jabal was 
the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.?’ 
The time therefore of his reclamation from the wilds of the forest, 
as well as his native country, is veiled in obscurity.. The effect of 
domestication in this, as in all other instances, has been to diminish 
the size of the animal, and extinguish to a great extent the natural fe- 
rocity. 
According to tradition, the wild oxen of Britain belonged to a 
very large race, and were very ferocious. Besides this traditionary 
evidence, there are found, in almost every country of Europe, the 
skull bones of oxen much larger than those of any of the living 
races. There is some doubt whether the animals to which these 
fossil bones belonged, were the parents of the present domestic ox. 
In this country, also, we have indications of the former existence on 
this continent of at least two, if not three species which have be- 
come extinct. We have also two living species, viz., the bos 
Americanus, or bison, and the bos moschiferus or musk ox. The 
former is now driven far westward, but once inhabited the states bor- 
dering on the Atlantic ; and the latter is now confined to the Arctic 
Circle, but is supposed to have existed as low as 40° of latitude. 
Of the extinct species one has been named bos Pallasii by Dr. De 
Kay. Its skull was thrown out of the earth at the time of the erup- 
tion at New Madrid in 1812. ‘ 
Dr. Harlan has described two other skulls, supposed to belong to 
two distinct species. One, the bos bombifrons, the other, bos 
