1 1 6 Oxen 



described under the name of B. ha'uii^ are apparently specifically indis- 

 tinguishable. Rude sculptures on rock-faces indicate that in Algeria the 

 species was coexistent with man. Regarding its affinities, the observations 

 ot Monsieur P. Thomas are significant. He writes that, apart from certain 

 diffisrences, nothing is more like the skull of this species than one of the 

 Indian bufi-alo ; but, on the other hand, the body-skeleton comes much 

 closer to that of the Cape species. If a very large arni skull were affixed 

 to the skeleton of a Cape buffalo, we should have an animal very like the 

 fossil. Monsieur Pomel is of opinion that the present species is equally 

 distinct from both the African and the Indian buffalo. 



The resemblance to the Indian buffalo, in my own opinion, is probably 

 largely due to the excessive development of the horns, and therefore 

 superficial ; and I think it is much nearer to the African species, of which 

 indeed it may not improbably be regarded as the ancestral form. It is 

 important to observe that its horn-cores are much more like those of the 

 Abyssinian than those of the Cape race of the modern African species, from 

 which it may be inferred that the helmet-like mass formed by the horns 

 on the forehead of the latter is a specialised feature of late origin. Not 

 less noteworthy is the greatly inferior length of the horns in all the races 

 of the living species. At the same time, seeing that many African mammals 

 appear to have been derived from extinct Indian types, the present species 

 may have retained some indications of affinity with the Indian buffalo. 



Distribution. — Africa during the Prehistoric and Plistocene periods, 

 ranging from Algeria to the Cape. 



3. The Siwalik Buffalo — Bos platyceros [Extinct) 



Biibalus platyccros, Lydekker, Rcc. Geo/. Si/rv. Ind. vol. x. p. 31 (1877), 

 Pal. Ind. [Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind.), ser. 10, vol. i. p. 127, pi. xviii. (1878), 

 Cat. Foss. Mamni. Brit. Mas. pt. ii. p. 29 (1885). 



