424 RECORDS OF BIG GAME 
Skull and Horns of Congo Dwarf Buffalo. 
C.—SHORT-HORNED RACES. 
bL. caffer brachyceros, B. c. planiceros, L. c. nanus, ete. 
Despite the differences in size, colour, and the form of the horns 
between the dwarf red buffalo of the Congo (4. ¢ nanus) and its gigantic 
black cousin of the Cape, such a gradual transition can be traced from 
the one type to the other, that both are evidently nothing more than 
local modifications of one variable species. In the dwarf buffalo of 
the Congo the colour of the hair is red or yellow, the ears are fringed 
with very long hair, and the horns are much Hattened at the base, with 
long smooth tips directed upwards. This type may be traced, with 
some modifications, to the Gabun and Gambia; but in the interior 
of Senegambia it apparently passes into the larger brown buffalo, with 
more laterally expanded and recurved horns known as B&. ¢. planziceros ; 
while the latter approaches the Abyssinian buffalo. In the Kwilu 
district of the Congo zanus is replaced by a darker-coloured race which 
may be known as B. ¢. simpsont; the type specimen being a female 
head in the British Museum. Another type is indicated by the Lake 
Chad buffalo (L. c. drachyceros), first discovered by the early explorers 
Denham and Clapperton. In height the Congo dwarf buffalo only 
reaches some 42 inches at the shoulder. Weight, 579 Ibs. clean. 
(Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton.) 
