223 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



very far from coinciding with that of the wild race. Hybrids bet- 

 ween Bos frontalis, and the humped cattle B. indicus are said to be 

 common ; but the skulls of B. frontalis brought from localities as far 

 apart as Upper Assam and the Chittagong hills appear, so far as car; 

 be judged from the accounts given, to be similar to each other, and 

 to be all similarly distinguished from those of B. gaurus. Further 

 information on this point is desirable ; but as to the absolute distinc- 

 tion of the two and the absence of intermediate forms we have 

 the important testimony of so good and trustworthy an observer as 

 Mr. S. E. Peal.* 



There are two facts that should be borne in mind in any endeavour 

 to disentangle the somewhat complicated history of Bos front a/is. 



1. The names of animals used by various nations and tribes are 

 just as carelessly and loosely applied as English terms are employed 

 by English-speaking people. In America the English term selected 

 for the Bison is the name of that particular bovine to which perhaps 

 the Bison is least related and which it least resembles — the Buffalo 

 — whilst in India the common English name for Bos gaurus is Bison. 

 It is not therefore surprising that terms like Gaur and Gayal are inter- 

 changeable. In fact, in a number of Indian languages, the name 

 applied to Bos gaurus means wild buffalo.f I have myself heard 

 the name Gayal used for Bos gaurus in Orissa, where Bos frontalis is 

 unknown. Probably the same name Gayal is used by such inhabi- 

 tants of Tipperah, Chittagong, &c, as speak Hindi or Bengali (foreign 

 languages to the majority) indifferently for Bos gaurus and Bos 

 frontalis. Mr. Peal states that in Upper Assam both are known as 

 Mithan. It is easy to understand the confusion that may thus have 

 been caused to naturalists of a generation or two back, who appear, 

 judging by their writings, to have regarded such names as restricted 

 to particular species. 



2. Blyth has gis T en at lengthy some very curious evidence ob- 

 tained by him, which, if correct, certainly appears to show that 



* Nature, Nov. 5th, 1885, Vol. XXXIII., p. 7. 



t Ran-hila, Ran-pada in Mahratti and Guzuratti, and Jangli Khulga, as quoted 

 by Jerdon. I have even heard the name Arna, the correct appellation of a wild buf- 

 falo, applied to Bos gaurus, 



X J- A. S. B., xxix., p. 294; see also Cat. Mamra. Mas. As. Soc, p. 1G2, Guvceus 



us, specimen D. 



