68 CATTLE 



the form of a pair situated on the forehead, although in the giraffe 

 there may be an additional one of a different type in advance of 

 these. 



The BovidcB, or hollow -horned ruminants, which include oxen, 

 buffaloes, sheep, antelopes, etc., agree with okapis, giraffes, and deer in 

 the absence of upper front teeth, and in the crescent-like form assumed 

 by the grinding surfaces of their cheek-teeth, as well as by the circum- 

 stance that in the front of the lower jaw the single pair of canine 

 teeth is approximated to the incisors, so as to form with the latter four 

 pairs of somewhat spatula-like teeth. In the hollow-horned ruminants, 

 as well as in deer, these lower canines are similar in form to the 

 incisors ; but, as will be shown later, in okapis and giraffes they are of 

 a more complex type. The hollow -horned ruminants are specially 

 characterised by their horns, which take the form of hollow, unbranched, 

 cylindrical sheaths, covering bony processes of corresponding form 

 arising from the forehead of the skull, to which they remain attached 

 throughout life. 



In the members of the ox tribe, forming the genus Bos, with 

 several subgenera, the horns, which are nearly as large in the female 

 as in the male (and, indeed, in some cases actually longer), generally 

 extend more or less outwardly from the head, and are cylindrical, 

 compressed, or angulated, without either distinct knots or bold trans- 

 verse wrinkles or rings. The long tail is either tufted at the end or 

 (rarely) long-haired throughout ; the head is massive and carried low ; 

 and the large ears may be fringed with long hairs. The colour of the 

 hair is generally uniform, although there may be white " stockings," 

 and (very rarely) a white rump-patch. The face is without glands, 

 and the broad muzzle moist and naked. The females have four teats. 

 Very important is the form of the cheek-teeth, which in the upper jaw 

 have tall, square, prismatic crowns, not very dissimilar to those of the 

 horse tribe, but with a different pattern on the grinding surface. Oxen 

 range over all the continents of the world except South America and 

 Australia. 



The wild African representatives of the genus belong to the 

 subgenus Bubahis, or buffaloes, in which the large horns are more or 

 less distinctly angulated at the base, and are set lower down on the 

 head than in the typical oxen. Although the extreme forms of the 

 series are very unlike, all the African buffaloes may be regarded as 

 local races of a single variable species, of which the typical representa- 

 tive is the great black buffalo of the Cape {Bos caffer tjpicus), in which 

 the horns of old bulls almost meet in the middle line of the forehead 



