682 
IT. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
BOS, Linnseus. 
Bos, “ Linnieus, Syst. Nat. ]735.” 
Bison, Aud. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. II, 1851, 32. 
End of muzzle very broad, entirely naked. A wide interval between tbe nostrils. Hoofs very broad. The two 
together, wider than long. Ears large, oval. Horns arched, at the base directed outward. Tail rather long.' 
The wild oxen constitute, in the main, a very natural group, although some forms are 
quite aberrant. The genus Bos , however, is easily distinguished by the above characters. 
There are several distinct groups in the genus, which may he called the oxen, the buffaloes, 
and the bisons, typified by the domestic hull, the Asiatic buffalo, and the American buffalo, 
and very appreciably characterized by Sundevall 1 and other authors. Much information 
respecting the osteological characters of the genus will be found in Sir John Richardson’s 
Report on the Fossil Mammals of the Herald, and in Dr. Leidy’s paper on the Fossil American 
Oxen, in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 
The American buffalo belongs to the sub-genus Bison or Bonasus of authors. 
BOS AMERICANUS, Gmelin. 
American BulTalo. 
Bos americanus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 204. 
Desmarest, Mammal. H, 1822, 496. 
Harlan, F. Am. 1825, 268. 
Godman, Am. N. H. Ill, 4. 
Richardson, F. Bor. Am. I, 1829, 279. 
Doughty, Cab. N. H. II, 1832, 169 ; pi. xiv. 
Wagner, Scbreber, Saugt. V, ii, 1838, 1513 ; pi. ccxlvi, ccxlvi A. 
Giebel, Saugt. 1855, 271. 
Bos ( Bonasm ) americanus, Wagner, Suppl. Scbreb. IV, 1844, 516.—Ib. V, 1855, 472. 
Bison americanus, Smith, Griff. Cuv. V, 1827, 374. 
Turner, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. XVIII, 1850, 174. 
Sundevall, Kong. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. for 1844.— Ib. Acrhiv. Skand. Beit. II, 1850, 154. 
Aud. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. II, 1851, 32 ; pi. lvi, lvii. 
Baird, Rep. U. S. Pat. Off. Agricultural for 1851, (1852,) 124, plate. 
Bison, Pennant, Hist. Quad. 1781, No. 19 .—Ib. Arctic Zool. I, 1784, 1. 
Bison d’Amerique, St. Hilaire et Cuv. Hist, des Mammif. IV, 1819 ; plates of male and female. 
“ Taurus mexicanus, Hernandez.” 
For a satisfactory account of the external form of this, the largest of the American quadru¬ 
peds, I must refer to the excellent description by Mr. Audubon in the Quadrupeds of North 
America. Dried and distorted skins give but a faint idea of the shape or even size of this 
monarch of the American prairies. The elevated hump between the shoulders, the broad full 
chest, the narrow loins, and the slender legs, can only be fully realized in the living animal, or 
from the descriptions of those who have had an opportunity of seeing it alive. 
The naked muffle is somewhat as in the deer, extending from the broad septum to the edge of 
tbe lip anteriorly, and widening below until the naked edge of the lip is about twice as wide as 
the space between the nostrils. The naked skin of the muffle extends on the upper outline, 
1 Kong. Sv. Vet. Alt. Hand, for 1844, 1846, and in Archiv Skand. Beit. II, 1850, 151-154. 
