Algerian Buffalo 115 



Distribution. — The neighbourhood of Lake Tchad, situated in West 

 Central Africa due north-east of the Gulf of Guinea. 



2. The Algerian Buffalo — Bos antiquus [Extinct) 



Bubaltis antiquus., Duvernoy, C. R. Acad. Paris., vol. xxxiii. p. 595 

 (1851) ; Gervais, Zoo/, ct Pal. Gcncra/cs., ser. i, p. 93, pi. xix. (1867-69) ; 

 Riitimeyer, Ahhandl. sclnvciz.. pal. Gcs. vol. v. p. 145 (1878) ; P. Thomas, 

 Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1881, p. 30, pi. ii. ; Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Manun. 

 Brit. Mus. pt. ii. p. 29 (1885) ; Cornel, Carte Gcol. d'Algerie — Pal. Mon. 

 Lcs Bubalidcs (1893). 



Bubalus baini., Seeley, Geol. Mag. decade 3, vol. viii, p. 192 (1891). 



Bos antiquus, Lydekker, Horns and Hoofs., p. 45 (1893). 



Characters. — A gigantic species with the nasal bones ot the compara- 

 tively short type distinctive of the existing African buffalo, but with the 

 rims of the sockets of the eyes much less prominent than in the Cape race, 

 and the horn-cores (fig. 2, p. 21), which are of enormous extent, widely 

 separated on the forehead, and with a curvature not unlike that ot the Cape 

 and north-eastern races of the living African species. In their downward 

 curvature at the base, and comparatively slight angulation for the greater 

 part of their length the horn-cores come decidedly nearer to the African 

 than to the Indian buffalo ; and the slight prominence of the orbits is only 

 an exajjsjeration of a characteristic feature of the former, which is most 

 ap>parent in the smaller races. Specimens have been described, measuring 

 at least i i feet along the curve of the horn-cores, and in one example the 

 same measurement has been estimated at 14 feet. In addition to this, the 

 length of the portions of the horns themselves covering the tips of the horn- 

 cores has to be taken into account. 



Remains of this magnificent buffalo occur typically in the superficial 

 deposits of Algeria, but skulls from the corresponding formations of the Cape, 



