12 CATALOGUE OF UNGULATES 



the genus Bos have been distributed amongst several genera. 

 The distinctions between the latter are, however, scarcely of 

 generic rank." 



The genus, in this wider sense, is divisible into the 

 following subgeneric groups : — 



A. Horns circular or oval in section. 



a. Dorsal vertebrfe 13 ; no long hair on fore-quarters 

 or flanks. 



a' . No dorsal ridge or hump Bos. 



a". A dorsal ridge Bihos. 



h. Dorsal vertebrae 14 ; long hair on flanks or fore- 

 quarters. 



h' . A fringe of long hair on flanks Poephagus. 



h". Long hair on fore-quarters Bison. 



B. Horns triangular, or partially so, in section Bubalus. 



1. Subgenus BOS. 



Horns circular or nearly so in section, situated far apart 

 from one another on a ridge forming extreme vertex of skull, 

 and overhanging the proper occipital surface of the latter, 

 which is thereby concealed in a front view. Forehead flat 

 and elongated, with a long interval between base of horn- 

 core and orbit ; the latter not tubular ; nasals relatively long. 

 Tail reaching below hocks. Line of back nearly straight. 

 Hair uniformly short ; legs (in wild species) coloured like 

 body. 



Thirteen pairs of ribs ; neural spine of seventh cervical 

 short ; spines of dorsals moderately tall, and sloping gTadually 

 and regularly away to the lumbars, thereby producing the 

 straight line of the back. 



Europe and Asia. 



I. BOS TAUEUS. 



Bos taurus, Linn. Sysf. Naf. ed. 10, vol. i, p. 71, 1758, ed. 12, vol. i, 



p. 98, 1766. 

 Bos urus, Linn. Syst. Naf. ed. 10, p. 7. 1757, ed. 12, vol. i, p. 98, 



1766. 



Eepresented at the present day only by some of the 

 domesticated breeds of cattle in Western Europe, the wild 

 aurochs, wliich lingered longest in Poland, where it became 

 extinct in 1627. 



