Bison poëphagus, Jardine, Naturalist's Library—Mamm. vol. iv. p. 259
(1836) ; Hodgson, yourn. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. x. pp. 449 an(^ 91 2" (1 ^4 1 )>
xvi. p. 708 (1847).
Poëphagus grunniens, Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus. p. 153 (1 ^43)* Gat.
Ungulata Brit. Mus. p. 40 (1852), Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 19 1, pl.-xxxv.,
Fig. 8.—Skull of male Yak.
Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 14 ( 1 8 7 ^ ; Horsfield, Cat. E . Ind. Mus.
p. 184 (1851) ; Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 529 ; Sterndale, Mamm.
Ind. p. 489 (1884) ; Prezewalzki, Cat. Zool. Coll. p. 13 (l88_7)i "
Poëphagus mutus, Prezewalzki, Cat. Zaol. Coll.-JF ® 3 (1887).
Bas (.Poëphagus) grunniens, Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. Paris, vol. xxxviii.
P- 334 (1891).
Plate IV .
CWrfrrrB-Skulll'relatively, long, with the forehead nearly flat, and
only a small boss f t bone above the true occiput showing in a front view.
General build massive and size large ; the. withers being relatively high,
and the back nearly level, without any marked falling away of the hindquarters;
height at shoulder reaching at least 5 feet 6 inches. Limbs
short and thick ; hoofs large and rounded ; muzzle and ears small ; dewlap
w an tin g Horns very large and massive, black in colour, smooth and
generally cylindricaHalthough sightly compressed at the base, in very old
animals,;.' their curvature at first upwards and outwards, then forwards, and
finally inwards and upward|j with a slightly backward inclination at the
tips in some example® Fourteen pairs of ribs. Hair of upper-parts and
sides comparativelyBhort and smooth, but I n the lower portihlj of each
flank produced into a long fringe extending acrq||the shoulders and thighs;
a tuft of similar elongated hair on the chest; and the terminal half of the
tail enveloped in a huge tuft of still longer hair, which seldom descends
much below the hocks. General cSjour dark blackish-brown, with a little
white in the neighborhood of the muzzle, a sprinkling of gray on the
head and neck in aged individual and a rusty tinge on the back of old
bulls.
Although 5 feet 6 inches at the shoulder seems to be the maximum
height of which there is any definite record, it is stated on good authority
that old bulls will reach nearly, i f not quite 6 feet. A bull of 5 feet 6
inches at the shoulder measured 7 feet 3 inches from the horns to the root
o f the tail ; the length of the tail being 3 feet 4 inches, and the girth of
the body round the chest 7-^ feet. Mr. H. M. Biddulph has, hovunu,
recorded a specimen measuring 8 feet and inch from the horns to the
tail ; and a girth at the chest of 9 feet 1^ inches has been measured. The