Part 1 (1/2)
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.