32 
GENUS BISON.— Pliny. 
DENTAL FORMULA. 
0 0 0 6 — 6 
Incisive - ; Canine — ; Molar — =32. 
8 0—0 C— 6 
Head, large and broad ; forehead, slightly arched ; horns, placed before 
the salient line of the frontal crest ; tail, short ; shoulders, elevated ; hair, 
soft and woolly. 
The generic name is derived from Pliny, who applied the word Bison, 
wild ox, to one of the species on the Eastern continent. 
There are five species of Buffalo that may be conveniently arranged 
under this genus : one existing in the forests of Southern Russia in Asia, 
in the Circassian mountains, and the desert of Kobi ; one in Ethiopia and 
the forests of India, one on the mountains of Central Asia, one in Ceylon, 
and one in America. In addition to this, the genus Bos, which formerly 
included the present, contains five well determined species, one inhabiting 
the country near the Cape of Good Hope, one in Central Africa, one in 
the Himalaya mountains and the Birman Empire, one in India, and one 
in the forests of Middle Europe. 
BISON AMEBIC ANUS.— Gmel. 
American Bison. — Buffalo. 
PLATE LVI. Male. 
PLATE LVII. Female, Male and Young. 
B. capite magno, lato, fronte leviter arcuata ; cornibus parvis, brevi- 
bus, teretibus, extrorsum dein sursum versis ; cauda breve, cruribus gra- 
cilibus armis excelsis, villo molli, lanoso. 
CHARACTERS. 
Forehead, broad, slightly arched ; horns, small, short, directed laterally 
and upwards; tail, short; legs, slender; shoulders, elevated- hair, soft 
and woolly. 
