234 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NA TURAL H1ST0R Y SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



The same author (in loc. cit.) says : " A few days before these pages 

 went to press I saw, in Mr. Hume's private collection, a typical skull 

 of Bos frontalis obtained by Mr. W. Davison in Tenasserim, and 

 distinctly identified by him as that of a wild animal." 



Of this head, however, Blanford gives no details beyond saying that 

 it was typical, and we must, therefore, presume that there was no 

 cylindrical crest. The evidence accordingly on this point must depend 

 solely on what is shown in the following heads. To refer, therefore, to 

 them : Looking at the head which shews the straightest line a, we 

 should expect this at once to be that of a tame animal ; instead of that 

 it is that of a wild one, and that not a cow but a bull, and from this the 

 crests will be found to be bigger and bigger in a regular gradation until 

 we come to /* which is that of a tame bull, and this shews a crest, drawing 

 to almost a point in the centre and far more highly developed than in 

 nine out of ten wild animals. The conclusion that I have arrived at, 

 after the careful inspection of a huge amount of material, is that the 

 extent of the crest is entirely an individual characteristic. In both 

 wild and tame animals its complete absence is rare, more especially in 

 males, and the crest in old animals is more developed than in the 

 young, and again on an average the wild form has a higher, more 

 cylindrical crest than the tame. As, however, the specimens vary 

 very greatly inter se, and the tame one often has it more highly 

 developed than many wild ones have, the characteristic is of no specific 

 value. 



The only other point shewn by the photographs is the growth of the 

 horns. This is the point which Blanford uses as a key to the species. 

 He savs : — 



" Bos gaurus — horns turned inwards near the tips." 

 " Bos frontalis — horns spreading, not turned inwards." 

 This key at once falls to the ground when we examine a in the 

 above series. Now this was a fine young, wild bull shot in the Mikir 

 country, far from any tame herd, so that he could not possibly have 

 been the result of a cross. Moreover, no wild cow would ever accept 

 the services of a tame bull w r hen, as is always the case, those of a finer, 

 stronger wild animal were available. 



This skull I consider a most important one, as, together with its non- 

 incurving horns, it shews, as already noted, so flat a crest and forehead. 

 So far I have never been able to obtain a specimen of a tame animal 

 with incurving horns, but the fact that a wild animal should have been 



