HYBRID OXEN 



317 



The members of the Bovine section or Oxen are to be dis- 

 tinguished from other hollow-horned Euminants by their stouter 

 build and by the fact that the horns stand out from the sides of 

 the skull and are simply curved, not twisted ; and smooth, not 

 annulate like those of other Euminants. The muffle is naked, 

 broad, and moist. The Oxen are widely distributed ; but are 

 entirely absent from the Australian region and from South 

 America and Madagascar. 



The true Oxen are perhaps best considered to form but a 

 single genus, Bos. They have, however, been divided into a number 

 of genera. Even the supposed aberrant Anoa depressicornis of 

 Celebes hardly differs sufficiently to warrant its separation. In 

 favour of this view, too, is the extraordinary ease with which 

 different " genera " will cross with each other and produce fertile 

 offspring. The following is the pedigree of an animal lately 

 living in the Zoological Society's Gardens. The female offspring 

 of a male Zebu and a female Gayal was mated with a male Bison. 

 The female calf was again mated with a Bison and produced a 

 calf, also a female, which contained therefore the three species, 

 Bos indicus, Bibos frontalis, and Bison americanus. It is clearly 

 unwise in view of this fact to insist too much upon generic dis- 

 tinctions in any of those types. 1 



Of this genus the Oriental Gaur (Bos gaurus), the Gayal (B. 

 frontalis), and the Banteng (B. sondaicus) form a well-marked 

 section, characterised by their dark coloration and by the some- 

 what flattened horns. 



The Gaur, Bos gaurus, has a more concave forehead than its 

 allies ; the horns are less curved than those of the Banteng, and 

 less so than the horns of the Gayal (Bos frontalis'). It inhabits 

 the Indian Peninsula ; and extends through Burmah to the ex- 

 tremity of the Malay Peninsula. The Malay name of this 

 animal is Sakiutan, which simply means wild cattle. It chiefly 

 frequents wooded hills and is an excellent mountain climber. 



Bos frontalis, the Indian Gayal, has a white caudal disc like 

 the last species, but the forehead is flat and the horns curve but 

 little. It is chiefly known as a tame animal, and its occurrence 

 in the wild state has been doubted. It has furthermore been 

 suggested that it is merely a tame race of the Gaur altered 



1 A. D. Bartlett, " On some Hybrid Bovine Animals bred in the Society's 

 Gardens," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 399. 



