354 BRITISH MAMMALS 



the early Tragelaphs and Cephalophines,^ and on the other to 

 the Capricorns. Not only did the sub-family Bovine originate 

 in India, but in the northern parts of that country the genus Bos^ 

 and the Taurine sub-genus or original parent of the common ox, 

 also had its birth. 



The most archaic of living oxen are the buffaloes. From 

 something like the buffalo stock arose a form classified as the 

 sub-genus Bibos^ which is represented by the huge gaur and 

 ;gayal of India. From this Bibovine group separated on the one 

 hand the yak and the bisons, and on the other hand the Taurine 

 group represented in recent times by the aurochs and its 

 descendants, the European domesticated cattle and "Bos indicus, 

 or the humped zebu type, from which the domestic cattle of 

 Africa and India are descended. The first True Bison was also 

 evolved in Northern India, a kindred form giving rise to the yak. 

 The bison spread northwards in the Pliocene or penultimate 

 period of the Tertiary Epoch. From Central Asia bisons 

 advanced early across the Behring Isthmus (that then connected 

 Asia with North America) into the New World. There the 

 bisons developed several types, and stretched their range down to 

 the Isthmus of Panama. One of these Bisontine species {Bos 

 latifrons) of the Southern United States developed during the 

 Pleistocene period into a very large animal, with enormous horns. 

 It is thought that when the bony core was covered with its horny 

 envelope the horns must have measured along the curve at least 

 5 ft. from the base of the horn core to the tip of the horn ! 

 This is very different from the 12 in. to the 20 in. of the 

 modern American bison's horns. 



From the first great area of Bisontine development in Central 

 Asia a form of bison known as Bos priscus (this being also the 

 name given to the earliest species that entered America) wandered 

 westwards as well as eastwards, and spread right across Central 



^ Though the Cephalophines, which at the present day are mostly small 

 antelopes in Africa and (one species) in India, have specialised in one or 

 two points, they stand very near to the primal stock from which all the 

 ringed-horned antelopes arose. 



