MAMMALIA. 461 



llic horns becomes enormously tliickrned, corneous and rup;p;e(l, and this begins 

 to show before the coat lias ooniiiienciul to ehanf,'e colour, as may be se(!n in a stutfed 

 specimen in the British jruseiim, wliicli is that of an animal procured in Pegu by 

 the author of this paper, and which lived for some time in the London Zoological 

 Gardens. How far to the eastward the range of this animal extends in the Indo- 

 Chinese countries, remains to bo ascertained ; but I have reason to believe that two 

 other species of Bos remain to be described there, one of which is domesticated ia 

 Kiam and the other in Cochin-Chiua." 



G. FRONTALIS, Lambert. 



The Gayal, or Mit'hun. 



General colour as in the ' Gour,'' but it possesses a dewlap, -which the ' Gour ' 

 does not, and, unlike that animal, is easily domesticated. The wild animal inhabits 

 the upper part of the Assam Valley and Mishmi Hills, ranging thence into the 

 borders of China. The domesticated race extends through the Tippera and Chitta- 

 gong Hills, as far south as the Kohidync River in Arakan. 



ilr. W. Blanford, in his interesting zoological notes (Joum. As. Soc. Bengal, 

 1867, Part II. p. 193), thus describes the ditferences outwardly visible between 

 the Gour and Gayal : — " The most remarkable of course are the comparatively 

 straight and wide-spreading horns, and the enormously developed dewlap of the 

 Cayal as contrasted with the sharply curved horns and absence of any dewlap in 

 the Gour and the shorter tail of the former. In the Gayals the head is shorter, 

 and I think altogether smaller than in the Gaur, and the dorsal ridge is not quite 

 so high. In the adult bull Gayal in Calcutta the skin of the back and sides is 

 almost naked, as in the buffaloes of the plains of India ; this I have never seen 

 in the Gour." As the above animal was one (procured, I fear, in a questionable 

 manner) that had lived, if not been bred, in captivity, it will be interesting to 

 asceitain how far this condition of the skin is natural to the animal in a wild state, 

 or induced, as I suspect, by captivity. 



BuBALUs, Hamilton Smith. 



Forehead convex, rounded. Horns large in both sexes, inclined liackwarda and 

 upwards, laid back horizontally when the animal is in motion. Hair scanty, black. 



B. ARxr. 



The wild buifalo. 



The horns arc either straight and long, curving at the tips only, or crescontic 

 throughout. The former are found chiefly in Assam, and a pair has been known to 

 exceed 12 feet, measured along the curve from tip to tip. The hitter form is the 

 handsomer and more formidable, and is seen in Burma to perfection, though single 

 horns of that sort do not usually exceed 3 feet in length. 



Dr. Mason remarks : " There are great numbers of wild buffaloes in the jungles 

 of the south, which are supposed by the natives to be indigenous, but they are more 

 probably of the domestic race that have run wild, like the wild horses of America." 

 This is more or less doubtful, but Blyth instances in support of it that the Indian 

 buffalo now abounds in a state of wildness on the north of Australia, where they 

 have spread from Port Essington, and there are many in the delta of the Nile, where 

 they must have descended from domestic stock. As the Burraans do not consume 

 milk, or any of its products, the calves receive their full share and develope into 

 noble animals, equal almost to the wild in plumpness and vigour. It is a curious 

 sight to see a herd of these creatures tended by a boy of five or six years old, 

 stretched at length on the back of an old bull, who seems as regardless of his 

 burden as though a gnat had settled on him, yet the child will drive and manage 

 a herd of these creatures, with nothing liut a small switch. A tiger will not attack 

 a herd of buffaloes, as it is credibly reiiortcil that if a herd sights a tiger, it charges 

 en tuiinse, and destroys its adversaiy ; but if sc^parated from the herd, buffaloes are 

 easily ovci-powered by a tiger. The strange sight (to them) of a European, especially 

 if on horseback, is very likely to evoke an alarming display of hostility from these 



