Yak 5 i
relatively small, the sockets of the eyes tubular, and the nasal bones
comparatively short and widely separated from the premaxilla;. Withers
high; ribs varying from fourteen to fifteen pairs. Tail reaching about to
the hocks. Long hair developed either on the fore-quarters or flanks ;
general Ijfilhur either uniform black or brown.
In the typical members of the group the neural spine1 of the seventh
cervical vertebra is elevated, so as to form a continuation of those of the
dorsal series, which are very tall and descend rapidly and suddenly to the
lumbarsi- Whether the same feature exists in the yak, I have been unable
to ascertain. It is the most specialised development o f this part of the
skeleton met with among all the oxen.
D isirib iiif^ ^ ST h e Holarctic and Sonoran regions, extending during the
Pliocene period into the Oriental, and in the Plistocene into the Neotropical
region.
1 . -T he Y a k—Bos grunnjens
Bos gntnniens, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, fs§| i. p. 99 (1766) ; Sundevall,
K. SySéska Vet. Ak. Hand I. for 1844, p. 153 (1846) ; Radde, Reisen Ost-
Sibirien, p. 272 (1861): 4 Severtzoff, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. sêr. 4, vol. xviii.
p. 336 (1876) ; Kinloch, I.urge Game Shooting, vol. ii. p. 5 (1876) ; Flower
and Garson, Gat. Osteol. Mus. GêM. Surg. pt. ii. p. 227 (1884) ; W. L.
Sclatcr, Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus. pt. ii. p. 128 (1891) ; Blanford; Fauna Brit.
IndiàSM am m . p. 490^(1891) ; Ward, Recépds o f Big Game, p. 277
( 1896).
Btmpoëphagus, H. Smith, in Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. iv. p. 404
(1827)« Pallas, .Zoogr. Rosid^Atiat. vol. i. p. 248, pi. xxii. ( 18 11) ;
Hodgson and Blyth, "fount. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xv. p. 143 (1846).
Bif^i (Bison) poëphagus, H. SmithJ|jn Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. v.
P- 374 (J8 2 I
1 See note oh p. 8.