Delineations of the Ox Tribe.

by George Vasey.

PREFACE.

The primary object of the present work, is to give as correct and comprehensive a view of the animals composing the Ox Tribe, as the present state of our knowledge will admit, accompanied by authentic figures of all the known species and the more remarkable varieties.

Although this genus (comprising all those Ruminants called Buffaloes, Bisons, and Oxen generally,) is as distinct and well characterised as any other genus in the animal kingdom, yet the facts which are at present known respecting the various species which compose it, are not sufficiently numerous to enable the naturalist to divide them into sub-genera. This is abundantly proved by the unsuccessful result of those attempts which have already been made to arrange them into minor groups. Nor can we wonder at this want of success, when we consider that even many of the species usually regarded as distinct are by no means clearly defined.

The second object, therefore, of this treatise, is (by bringing into juxta-position all the most important facts concerning the various individual specimens which have been described, and by adding several other facts of importance which have not hitherto been noticed,) to enable the naturalist to define, more correctly than has yet been done, the peculiarities of each species.

A third object is to direct the attention of travellers more particularly to this subject; in order that, by their exertions, our information upon this cla.s.s of animals may be rendered more complete.

A new and important feature in the present Monograph, is the introduction of a Table of the Number of Vertebrae, carefully constructed from an examination of the actual skeletons, by which will be seen at a glance the princ.i.p.al osteological differences of species which have hitherto been confounded with each other. A Table of the Periods of Gestation is likewise added, which presents some equally interesting results.

Several of the descriptions have been verified by a reference to the living animals, seven specimens of which are at present (1847) in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park. The several Museums in the Metropolis have likewise been consulted with advantage.

I am indebted to Judge FURNAM, of the United States, for some original information respecting the American Bison; and also to the late Mr.

COLE, who was forty years park-keeper at Chillingham, for answers to several questions which I proposed to him on the subject of the Chillingham Cattle.

I beg to acknowledge my obligation to Mr. CATLIN for kindly allowing me, not only to make extracts, but also to copy some of the outlines from his 'Letters and Notes on the North American Indians,' a work which I do not hesitate to p.r.o.nounce one of the most curious and interesting which the present century has produced,--whether we regard the graphic merits of its literary or pictorial department.

To Professor OWEN and the Officers of the Royal College of Surgeons, to the Officers of the Zoological Society, and to the Officers of the Zoological Department of the British Museum, my sincere thanks are due for the kindness and promptness with which every information has been given, and every facility afforded to my inquiries and investigations.

With respect to the engraved figures, I have striven to produce correct delineations of form and texture, rather than to make pretty pictures by sacrificing truth and nature for the sake of ideal beauty and artistic effect.

I cannot conclude this Preface without expressing my thanks to Messrs.

ADLARD for the first-rate style in which this volume has been printed; particularly for the successful manner in which the impressions of the engravings have been produced, superior, in general, to India-proof impressions.

_King Street, Camden Town;_ _May, 1851._

ADDENDUM.

PENNANT--BUFFON--GOLDSMITH--BEWICK--BINGLEY.

In addition to the critical remarks on the writings of others, on this subject, which the reader will find in the following pages, I have further to observe that, although Pennant and Buffon have held a very high character, for many years, as scientific naturalists, the portion of their works which treats of the _Genus Bos_, appears to have been the result of the most careless and superficial observation. With the exception of the facts and observations furnished by such men as Daubenton and Pallas, Buffon's works are little more than flimsy speculations. As to Pennant's history of the Ox Tribe, it is calculated rather to bewilder than to inform; it is, in fact, an incoherent ma.s.s of dubious statements, huddled together in a most inextricable confusion: as a piece of Natural History it is absolutely worse than nothing.

Goldsmith, Bewick, and Bingley, three of our most popular writers on Natural History, appear to have done little more than compile from Pennant and Buffon, and consequently are but little deserving of credit.

These strictures apply exclusively to such portions of their works as relate to the Ox Tribe.

INTRODUCTION.

Ruminantia is the term used by naturalists to designate those mammiferous quadrupeds which chew the cud; or, in other words, which swallow their food, in the first instance, with a very slight mastication, and afterwards regurgitate it, in order that it may undergo a second and more complete mastication: this second operation is called ruminating, or chewing the cud. The order of animals which possess this peculiarity, is divided into nine groups or genera, namely:--

CAMELS.

LLAMAS.

MUSKS.

DEER.

GIRAFFES.

ANTELOPES.

GOATS.

SHEEP.

OXEN.

The last named forms the subject of the following pages, and is called, in zoological language, the _Genus Bos_, in popular language, the OX TRIBE.

One of the most interesting occupations which the wide field of Zoology offers to the naturalist, is the investigation of those remarkable adaptations of organs to functions, and of these again to the necessities and well-being of the entire animal. Nor does it in the least diminish our interest in the investigation of individual adaptations, or our admiration on becoming acquainted with them, that we know, _a priori_, this universal truth, that all the const.i.tuents of every organised body, be that organisation what it may, are invariably adapted, in the most perfect manner, to each other, and to the whole.

It is by a knowledge of this exact harmony in the animal economy, that the comparative anatomist can determine, with almost unerring precision, the genus, or even species of an animal, by an examination of any important part of its organisation, as the teeth, stomach, bones, or extremities. In some cases, a single bone, or even the fragment of a bone, is sufficient to convey an idea of the entire animal to which it belonged.

In ill.u.s.tration of this:--if the viscera of an animal are so organised as only to be fitted for the digestion of recent flesh, we find that the jaws are so contracted as to fit them for devouring prey; the claws for seizing and tearing it to pieces; the teeth for cutting and dividing its flesh; the entire system of the limbs, or organs of motion, for pursuing and overtaking it; and the organs of sense for discovering it at a distance. Moreover, the brain of the animal is also endowed with instincts sufficient for concealing itself, and for laying plans to catch its necessary prey.

Again, we are well aware that all _hoofed_ animals must necessarily be herbivorous, or vegetable feeders, because they are possessed of no means of seizing prey. It is also evident, having no other use for their fore-legs than to support their bodies, that they have no occasion for a shoulder so vigorously organised as that of carnivorous animals; owing to which they have no clavicles, and their shoulder-blades are proportionally narrow. Having also no occasion to turn their forearms, their radius is joined by ossification to the ulna, or is at least articulated by gynglymus with the humerus. Their food being entirely herbaceous, requires teeth with flat surfaces, on purpose to bruise the seeds and plants on which they feed. For this purpose, also, these surfaces require to be unequal, and are, consequently, composed of alternate perpendicular layers of enamel and softer bone. Teeth of this structure necessarily require horizontal motions to enable them to triturate, or grind down the herbaceous food; and accordingly the condyles of the jaw could not be formed into such confined joints as in the carnivorous animals, but must have a flattened form, correspondent to sockets in the temporal bones. The depressions, also, of the temporal bones, having smaller muscles to contain, are narrower and not so deep; and so on, throughout the whole organisation.

The digestive system of the ruminantia is more complicated in structure than that of any other cla.s.s of animals; and, owing to this complexity, and the consequent difficulty of investigating it, its nature and functions have been less perfectly understood.

The stomach of the Manilla Buffalo, which will serve as an example of all the other species, is divided into four cavities or ventricles, which are usually (but improperly) considered as four distinct stomachs.

The following figure represents the form, relative size, and position of these four cavities when detached from the animal, and fully inflated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ First cavity, called the paunch.

_b._ Second ditto, the honeycomb bag.

_c._ Third ditto, the many-plies.

_d._ Fourth ditto, the reed, or rennet.

_e._ A portion of the oesophagus, showing its connection with the stomach.

_f._ The pylorus, or opening into the intestines.]

The interior of those cavities present some remarkable differences in point of structure, which, in the present work, can only be alluded to in a very general manner. For a particular account of the internal anatomy of these complicated organs, the reader is referred to the interesting work on 'Cattle,' by W. Youatt.

The paunch is lined with a thick membrane, presenting numerous prominent and hard papillae. The inner surface of the second cavity is very artificially divided into angular cells, giving it somewhat the appearance of honeycomb, whence its name "honeycomb-bag." The lining membrane of the third cavity forms numerous deep folds, lying upon each other like the leaves of a book, and beset with small hard tubercles.

These folds vary in breadth in a regular alternate order, a narrow fold being placed between each of the broader ones. The fourth cavity is lined with a velvety mucous membrane disposed in longitudinal folds. It is this part of the stomach that furnishes the gastric juice, and, consequently, it is in this cavity that the proper digestion of the food takes place; it is here, also, that the milk taken by the calf is coagulated. The reed or fourth cavity of the calf's stomach retains its power of coagulating milk even after it has been taken from the animal.

We have a familiar instance of its operation in the formation of curds and whey.