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MUSKOGEE
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MUSKOGEE , a See also:city and the See also:county-seat of Muskogee county, See also:Oklahoma, U.S.A.; about 3 M. W. by S. of the confluence of the See also:Verdigris, Neosho (or See also:Grand) and See also:Arkansas See also:rivers, and about 130 M. E.N.E. of Oklahoma City. Pop. (1900), 4154; (1907), 14,418, of whom 4298 were negroes and 332 See also:Indians; (1910), 25,278. It is served by the St See also: Muskogee was founded about 187o, and became the See also:chief See also:town of the See also:Creek Nation (Muskogee) and the See also:metropolis and administrative centre of the former Indian Territory, being the headquarters of the See also:Union Indian Agency to the Five Civilized Tribes, of the See also:United States (See also:Dawes) See also:Commission to the Five Civilize& Tribes, and of a Federal See also:land See also:office for the See also:allotment of lands to the Creeks and Cherokees, and the seat of a Federal See also:Court. The city was chartered in 1898; its See also:area was enlarged in 1908, increasing its See also:population.
See also:MUSK-OX, also known as musk-See also:buffalo and musk-See also:sheep, an See also:Arctic See also:American ruminant of the See also:family See also:Bovidae (q.v.), now representing a genus and sub-family by itself. Apparently the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) has little or no near relation-See also:ship to either the oxen or the sheep; and it is not improbable that its See also:affinities are with the See also:Asiatic See also:takin (Budorcas) and the See also:extinct See also:European Criotherium of the See also:Pliocene of See also:Samos. The musky odour from which the See also:animal takes its name does not appear to be due to the secretion of any gland.
In height a See also:bull musk-ox stands about 5 ft. at the See also:shoulder. The head is large and broad. The horns in old See also:males have extremely broad bases, See also:meeting in the See also:middle See also:line, and covering the brow and See also:crown of the head. They are directed at first downwards by the See also:side of the See also:face, and then turn upwards and forwards, ending in the same See also:plane as the See also:eye. The basal See also:half is dull See also: The space between the nostrils and the upper See also:lip is covered with See also:short dose hair, as in sheep and goats, without any trace of the See also:bare muzzle of oxen. The greater part of the animal is covered with See also:long See also: They have also been found in Pleistocene gravels in several parts of See also:England, as See also:Maidenhead, See also:Bromley, Freshfield near See also:Bath, Barnwood near See also:Gloucester, and in the See also:brick-See also:earth of the See also:Thames valley at Cray-See also:ford, See also:Kent; while their remains also occur in Arctic America. Musk-oxen are gregarious in See also:habit, assembling in herds of twenty or See also:thirty head, or sometimes eighty or a See also:hundred, in which there are seldom more than two or three full-grown males. They run with considerable See also:speed, notwithstanding the shortness of their legs. They feed chiefly on grass, but also on See also:moss, See also:lichens and See also:tender shoots of the See also:willow and See also:pine. The See also:female brings forth one young in the end of May or beginning of See also:June, after a gestation of nine months. The See also:Swedish expedition to Greenland in 1899 found musk-oxen in herds of varying See also:size some contained only a few individuals, and in one See also:case there were sixty-seven.' The See also:peculiar musky odour was perceived from a distance of a hundred yards; but according to See also:Professor Nathorst there was no musky See also:taste or See also:smell in the flesh if the carcase were cleaned immediately the animals were killed. Of See also:late years musk-oxen have been exhibited alive in See also:Europe; and two examples, one of which lived from 1899 till 1903, have been brought to England. The somewhat imperfect See also:skull of an extinct See also:species of musk-ox from the gravels of the See also:Klondike has enabled Mr W. H. Osgood to make an important addition to our knowledge of this remarkable type of ruminant. The skull, which is probably that of a female, differs from the See also:ordinary musk-ox by the much smaller and shorter See also:horn-cores, which are widely separated in the middle line of the skull, where there is a groove-like depression See also:running the whole length of the forehead. The sockets of the eyes are also much less prominent, and the whole fore-part of the skull is proportionately longer. On See also:account of these and other See also:differences (for which the reader may refer to the See also:original See also:paper, published in vol. xlviii• of the Smithsonian See also:Miscellaneous Collections)its describer refers the Klondike skull to a new genus, with the See also:title Symbos tyrrelli, the specific name being given in See also:honour of its discoverer. This, however, is not all, for Mr Osgood points out that a skull discovered many years ago in the vicinity of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, and then named Ovibos or Bootherium cavifrons, evidently belongs to the same genus. That skull indicates a bull, and the author suggests that it may possibly be the male of Symbos tyrrelli, although the wide separation of the localities made him hesitate to accept this view. Perhaps it would have been better had he done so, and taken the name Symbos cavifrons for the species. A third type of musk-ox skull is, however, known from North America, namely one from the celebrated Big-See also:Bone Lick, See also:Kentucky, on which the genus and species Bootherium bombifrons was established, which differs from all the others by its small size, See also:convex forehead and rounded horn-cores, the latter being very widely separated, and arising from the sides of the skull. This specimen has been regarded as the female of Symbos cavifrons; but this view, as pointed out by Mr Osgood, is almost certainly incorrect, and it represents an entirely distinct See also:form. This, however, is not the whole of the past See also:history of the musk-ox See also:group; and in this connexion it may be mentioned that palaeontological discoveries are gradually making it evident that the poverty of America in species of horned ruminants is to a See also:great extent a feature of the present day, and that in past times it possessed a considerable number of representatives of this group. One of the latest additions to the See also:list is a large sheep-like animal from a See also:cave in See also:California, apparently representing a new generic type, which has been described by E. L. See also:Furlong in the publications of the University of California, under the name of Preptoceras sinclairi. It is represented by a nearly See also:complete See also:skeleton, and has doubly-curved horns and sheep-like See also:teeth. In See also:common with an allied ruminant from the same See also:district, previously described as Euceratherium, it seems probable that Preptoceras is related on the one See also:hand to the musk-ox, and on the other to the Asiatic takin, while it is also supposed to have affinities with the sheep. If these extinct forms really serve to connect the takin with the musk-ox, their systematic importance will be very great. From a See also:geographical point of view nothing is more likely, for the takin forms a type confined to Eastern See also:Asia (See also:Tibet and Szechuen), and it would be reasonable to expect that, like so many other peculiar forms from the same region, they should have representatives on the American side of the Pacific. (R. L. *) MUSK-See also:RAT, or See also:MUSQUASH, the name of a large North American rat-like rodent mammal, technically known as Fiber zibethicus, and belonging to the See also:mouse-tribe (Muridae). Aquatic in habits, this animal is related to the See also:English water-rat and therefore included in the sub-family Microtinae (see See also:VOLE). It is, however, of larger size, the head and See also:body being about i2 in. in length and the tail but little less. It is rather a heavily-built animal, with a broad head, no distinct See also:neck, and short limbs, the eyes are small, and the ears project very little beyond the fur. The fore-limbs have four toes and a rudimentary thumb, all with claws; the See also:hind limbs are larger, with five distinct toes, united by short webs at their bases. The tail is laterally compressed, nearly naked, and scaly. The hair much resembles that of a See also:beaver, but is shorter; it consists of a thick soft under-fur, interspersed with longer stiff, glistening hairs, which overlie and conceal the former, on the upper See also:surface and sides of the The Musk-rat (Fiber zibethicus). body. The See also:general See also:colour is dark See also:umber-brown, almost black on the back and See also:grey below. The tail and naked parts of the feet are black. The musky odour from which it derives its name is due to the secretion of a large gland situated in the inguinal region, and present in both sexes. The ordinary musk-rat is one of several species of a genus peculiar to America, where it is distributed in suitable localities in the northern part of the See also:continent, extending from the See also:Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Rio Grande to the barren grounds bordering the Arctic seas. It lives on the shores of lakes and rivers, See also:swimming and diving with facility, feeding on the roots, stems and leaves of water-See also:plants, or on fruits and vegetables which grow near the margin of the streams it inhabits. Musk-rats are most active at See also:night, spending the greater part of the day concealed in their burrows in the See also:bank, which consist of a chamber with numerous passages, all of which open under the surface of the water. For See also:winter quarters they build more elaborate houses of conical or See also:dome-like form, composed of sedges, See also:grasses and similar materials plastered together with mud. As their fur is an important See also:article of See also:commerce, large See also:numbers are annually killed, being either trapped or speared at the mouths of their holes. (See also See also:RODENTIA.) MUSK-See also:SHREW, a name for any species of the genus Crocidura of the family Soricidae (see INsECTIVORA). The See also:term is generally used of the common grey musk-shrew (C. coerulea) of See also:India. Pr See also:Dobson believed this to be a semi-domesticated variety of the brown musk-shrew (C. murina), which he considered the original See also:wild type. The head and body of a full-grown specimen measure about 6 in.; the tail is rather more than half that length; and bluish-grey is the usual colour of the fur, which is paler on the under surface. Dr See also:Blanford states that the See also:story of See also:wine or See also:beer becoming impregnated with a musky taint in consequence of this shrew passing over the bottles, is less credited in India than formerly owing to the discovery that liquors bottled in Europe and exported to India are not liable to be thus tainted. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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