192 Hollistei — The Generic Name of the African Buffalo. 



Genus Syncerus Hodgson. 



1847. Syncerus Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, XVI, new series, 

 no. 7, p. 709, July. (Genus.) Type by selection, Bos brachyceros 

 Gray.* 



1872. Planiceros Gray, Cat. Rum. Mamm. in Brit. Mus., p. 10. (Sub- 

 genus of Bubalns.) Type by tautonymy, Bubalus centralis a. Bos 

 planiceros Blyth. 



1872. Synceros Gray, Cat. Rum. Mamm. in Brit. Mus., p. 12. (Sub- 

 genus of Bubalus.) Type by monotypy, Bubalus caffer Gra\= Bos 

 caffer Sparrman. 



Skull massive, short and broad, facial profile concave; rostrum rela- 

 tively short and broad. Nasal bones short and wide; greatest length 

 mesially. Vomer not attached to palatine bones. Audital bullfe large, 

 reaching far beyond plane of ventral surface of basi-occipital. Molars 

 long, crowns relatively narrow. Hair of dorsum directed uniformly back- 

 ward from neck to rump; ears large, heavily fringed with long hairs. 

 Ethiopian Region. 



The following African buffaloes were recognized by the last monographer, 

 Matschie, 1906, t or have been described since the publication of his revi- 

 sion. The specific or subspecific rank of these forms is still very uncer- 

 tain. I use trinomials where the original describer has done so. 



1. Syncerus azrakensis (Matschie). Dar Roseres, on the Bahr el Azrak, 



Egyptian Sudan. 



2. Syncerus brachyceros (Gray ). Central Africa (shores of Lake Tchad, 



Matschie ) . 



3. Syncerus caffer caffer (Sparrman). Sunday River, Eastern Capeland. 



4. Syncerus caffer aequinoctialis (Blyth). White Nile. 



5. Syncerus caffer cottoni (Lydekker). Semliki Valley. 



6. Syncervs caffer matthewsi (Lydekker). Mfumbiro, Ruanda, German 



East Africa. 



7. Syncerus caffer radcliffei (Thomas). Burumba, Ankole, S. W. 



Uganda. 



8. Syncerus centralis (Gray). ?Atbara, Egyptian Sudan. 



9. Syncerus gariepensis (Matschie). Ligua River, upper Orange. 



10. Syncerus limpopoensis (Matschie). Lembobo Mountains, Southern 



Swasiland. 



11. Syncerus rnayi (Matschie). Bengo, Loanda. 



12. Syncerus nanus (Boddaert). ' Probably somewhere between the 



Congo and the mouth of the Niger," Lydekker, Wild Oxen, Sheep, 

 and Goats of All Lands, p. 111. 

 ]?>. Syncerus neumanni (Matschie). Chagwe, Uganda. 



* Hodgson's genus contains two species, " Bornouensis and Brachycerus." The first 

 has been overlooked by all recent workers. It dates from 1858, and first appears in 

 Chas. Hamilton Smith's Synopsis of the Mammalia, Jardine's Naturalists' Library, XV, 

 p. 290, as -Bos bornouensis. with description ; type locality, Bornou. 



t Site.— ber. ges. nat. freunde Berlin, 1906, no. 7. pp. 161-179, July, 1906. 



