MAMMALIA, 283 
appear disproportionably weak. The forehead is broad, the cheeks rather lank, and the face, 
which tapers from the eye towards the nose, has a form approaching to triangular. The horns 
are small, tapering, and acute, set far apart, and nearly erect, being only slightly curved at the 
base and tips, which point outwards. The bulk of the hump consists, exclusive of a deposit 
of fat, which varies much in quantity, of the muscles that are attached to the unusually long 
spinous processes of the posterior cervical and anterior dorsal vertebra, and are destined for 
the support of the head. The hair on the forehead, hump, fore-quarters, under-jaw, and 
throat, is very long and shaggy, and is mixed with much wool. The back, hind-quarters, belly, 
and legs, are clothed with shorter, and in many parts curly hair. The general colour of the 
hair, when the animal has acquired its new coat at the close of the summer, is between dark 
umber and liver-brown, and it has then a considerable lustre. As the hair lengthens during 
the winter, its tips become paler, and before it is shed in the summer much of it is of a pale, 
dull, yellowish-brown colour. The ¢ail is covered with short fur for the greatest part of its 
length, but is terminated by a tuft of long, straight, coarse hair, of a blackish-brown colour. 
The legs are strong. ; 
~ The bison, when full grown, is said to attain at times a weight of two thousand pounds ; but 
12 or 14 ewt. is generally considered a full size in the fur countries. Its length, exclusive of 
the tail, is about eight feet and a half; its height, at the fore-quarters, upwards of six feet, and 
the length of its tail is twenty inches. 
The cow has a smaller head, and shorter hair on the fore-parts, than the bull. 
There is a variety of the buffalo which is nearly white. 
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