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Notice of the various 



Notice of the Various Species of Bovine Animals. By the Editor of 

 the 6 Indian Field.' * 



I will commence with the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) of the 

 "barren-grounds" of Arctic America. The present distribution of 

 this remarkable animal is, indeed, confined to that peculiar region, 

 similar however to the " Tundras " of Arctic Siberia ; but there is 

 evidence of its having formerly inhabited a far more extensive range, 

 and its fossil remains have been discovered even in Devonshire, in 

 England! — one of many evidences of a former glacial epoch in Europe, 

 long anterior to the existence of human beings in all probability. 

 Remains of the rein-deer have likewise been found in England, with 

 shells of now arctic or sub-arctic species, and correlative signs of 

 glacier action in the valleys of the mountains, huge boulder-stones of 

 which the present position has only hitherto been explained, intel- 

 ligibly, by the transporting power of icebergs, &c. The musk ox 

 seems to stand quite alone in its tribe ; though Professor Owen classes 

 it with its very opposites, the buffalos ! Its horns, indeed, bear a 

 certain resemblance to those of the Cape buffalo, but are much less 

 spread out in their curvature ; the naked muzzle is reduced to its 

 extreme minimum ; and the tail is short, like that of Ovis Ammon : the 

 animal is densely covered with wool and long hair, which last falls 

 over the sides so as to conceal its short limbs to near the ground. 

 Most of our readers will have seen the fine stuffed specimen in the 

 British Museum ; but a much better idea of the living animal will be 

 gathered from a figure in one of the narratives of Arctic expedition, 

 we forget which (probably Ross or Back), and have not the work to 

 refer to. Most assuredly there is nothing in that figure to betoken a 

 near affinity to the buffalos. The head is carried very low in running; 

 whereas in the ordinary carriage of a buffalo the nose is held out 

 straight in a line with the back. The musk cattle clamber rocks and 

 traverse broken ground with extraordinary facility (assuredly not a 

 Bubaline trait), and their hoofs — unlike those of the buffalos — are 

 adapted to their climbing propensities, t There is even considerable 

 superficial resemblance between the Arctic musk ox and that very 



* Communicated by Charles Darwin, Esq. 



f According to Colonel C. II. Smith, " the under parts of the hoof and frog show 

 a singular softish transversely ribbed surface, of a brown-red colour, seemingly intended 

 to secure the foot on slippery snow and ice : the outer (?) toe is round, and the other 

 crooked and pointed." 



