Indian Buffalo 



121 



hair on the middle line of the back. They likewise differ by the form of 

 the skull and horns, and although these display a considerable degree of 

 variation in the different forms, yet they are essentially of the same type, and 

 present a more or less complete passage from one variety to another. The 

 Asiatic buffaloes seem, therefore, to form a closely allied group of species, 

 which, owing to their isolated habitats, have become more differentiated 

 trom one another than have the races of the African buffalo. 



Distribution. — In the wild state, India and apparently other parts of the 

 Oriental region. 



a. Typical Race — Bos bubalis typicus 



C/iarcictcrs. — Generally those given above, the horns being large and 

 distinctly receding from the plane of the forehead, and the colour ashy 

 blackish-gray, with or without whitish on the legs below the knees and 

 hocks ; lower lip whitish. Forehead moderately convex, and facial portion 

 of skull long. 



Although the older writers, like Brian Hodgson, stated that old bulls 

 of the Indian buffalo stood as much as 6^ feet at the shoulder, such 

 dimensions were doubted by Colonel A. Kinloch, who suggested about 

 5 feet 4 inches as the maximum height. A bull shot by H.H. the 

 Maharaja of Kuch Behar measured, however, 6 teet 2}, inches at the 

 shoulder, with a length of 14 feet 2 inches trom the tip ot the muzzle 

 to the root of the tail, and a maximum girth of 10 teet 8 inches, that at 

 the shoulder being 2 feet less. As it is unlikely that this specimen was 

 the largest that ever lived, Hodgson's measurements are probably but little, 

 if at all, in excess of the truth. A second bull killed by the Maharaja 

 stood 5 feet 10 inches at the shoulder. There is no evidence that the speci- 

 mens with outwardly directed horns inhabit an area apart trom those with 

 more regularly curved horns, so that the two types cannot be regarded as 



